


The Rogue Squad

by TitanMaster



Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon), She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29025804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TitanMaster/pseuds/TitanMaster
Summary: Move over, princesses! It's time to let this new squad of fighters take the stage. Makuta, Catra, Skorp, Waspix, and Pyroc. Together, this team of misfits will travel and battle their way from Etheria to Las Vistas, and everywhere in between as they race to defeat an old enemy from Etheria, and Eternia's, past.
Kudos: 2
Collections: She-Ra, she-ra





	1. Makuta: First Assignment

It was another typical morning in the Fright Zone. Adora and the others made it to the combat simulator as usual…everyone except Catra, that is; she always was the lazy one. As the simulation went on, Adora was managing to hold her own against the training bots well enough, but got so distracted she failed to notice one sneak up behind her. By the time she turned around to see it, it was about to bring its shock prod down on her.  
Suddenly, something shot through the robot’s chest, leaving a massive hole, and it exploded. As it did, Adora felt a fast movement above her head and looked behind her to see a figure land on the ground. At first she thought it was Catra, and it certainly did look like her. However, she quickly realized it wasn’t Catra. He (it was a guy) did have similar features to Catra: the orange skin, brown tail, claws, catlike eyes, fangs, and wild hair, but that’s where the similarities ended. He was far more muscular and was dressed in the standard training outfit. His hair was jet black, and while Catra had one blue eye, his was green. To top it off, a massive scar ran down his green eye. This was Catra’s brother, Makuta.  
Makuta looked back at Adora: “Let me guess, she hasn’t shown yet?” he said.  
“Yeah, well what else is new?” Adora replied.  
Before Makuta could say anything else, more robots bean approaching. Seeing them, Makuta cracked his knuckles: “Well, she’s missing out.” He said to himself, and, letting out a lion’s roar, charged the bots. He soon made quick work of them, his claws tearing effortlessly through the metal parts, and moving too fast for them to hit him, until a pile of scrap metal lay behind him. Moments later, the simulator ended, and the trainees began to leave, but as Makuta went to join him, he was stopped and called aside by a Horde soldier, who led him into a private room where he was met by Shadow Weaver.  
“Hordak is impressed with your abilities,” she said, “Your combat and stealth are exceptionally good in his opinion.”  
“Well,” Makuta said, “I do try my best.”  
“And it will now pay off,” Shadow Weaver continued, “He has an assignment for you.”  
Makuta lit up, “Really? Like, an actual mission?”  
“Not just any mission. Hordak needs one of our best stealth operatives to find certain weaknesses in our enemies in Etheria.”  
“Where?”  
“You will be dispatched to the kingdom of Brightmoon.”  
Makuta’s eyes widened: “Isn’t that the most major kingdom in Etheria.”  
“It certainly is one of them, at least,” Shadow Weaver replied, “You will go in to find as many weaknesses as you can in the kingdom, and report them to us. Once we have what we need, our forces will go in and raze the kingdom to the ground. So, do you accept?”  
Makuta didn’t even need time to think: “Sign me up.” He said.  
Later that day, he went to find Adora and Catra to tell them what had happened. He had changed into his normal outfit: a black armored tank top and pants with black boots that had holes in them to let the claws on his toes stick out, and silver arm gauntlets, on the way.  
The three had grown up together, and Makuta treated Adora as a sister as much as he did Catra, even receiving a wound on his eye protecting them from Horde recruits who were taunting them when he was young. Since that day, he promised himself that he would protect them the best that he could, leading him to exercise and train a lot from a young age, significantly increasing his strength, along with the rest of his physical prowess. Eventually, the bullies were too scared to even go near the girls, but that didn’t stop Makuta from training and keeping to his promise.  
Soon, he came to Adora’s room, where she and Catra were relaxing at the moment.  
“Hey, brother.” Catra said, noticing his entrance, “What took you so long?”  
“Okay, first of all, you’re one to talk, like, where were you during the simulators, AGAIN?” Makuta retorted, “and second, I got an assignment from Shadow Weaver.”  
The girls shot up.  
“What?!” Catra exclaimed.  
“You got an actual mission?” Adora asked.  
Makuta nodded: “I’m going to spy on the kingdom of Brightmoon, and figure out what weaknesses it has so our armies can attack it.”  
Adora ran up and hugged Makuta: “That’s awesome!” she said.  
Makuta felt himself blush as Adora hugged him; having her hug him always felt…different compared to others, though he wasn’t quite sure how to explain it.  
Catra, thankfully, seemed to take no notice if this: “That is pretty cool,” she said, “When do you leave?”  
“In a few hours, actually.” Makuta replied, “but I gotta pack right now, so I was just stopping by to say goodbye.”  
“Well, see ya later!” Adora said.  
Catra walked up to hug her brother, “Don’t do anything ridiculous, okay?” she said.  
“How can I,” Makuta replied with a chuckle as he returned her embrace, “I’m leaving all the ridiculous with you two.”  
“Excuse me?” Catra demanded, pulling away. Adora just giggled.  
“Well, I gotta go pack now, so see you gals when I get back!” Makuta said, running out of the room and into his own room a few doors down. Once inside, he immediately began packing together any gadgets and clothes he might need, and then took off for the hangar, where a Horde skiff was waiting to transport him into Brightmoon airspace. Shadow Weaver was waiting by the entrance ramp.  
“Good luck,” she said as Makuta walked up the ramp. Makuta turned around and gave a small salute before getting on the skiff. Once he was on, the skiff took off and headed for Brightmoon. Sleeping in the back since he had decided to take a catnap during the trip, Makuta was jolted awake, when the soldier yelled back, “Alright, this is as close as I can get you without being seen, so you’re going to have to jump out here. Brightmoon is only a few miles ahead, so you won’t need to walk far.”  
“Just get me as close as you can,” Makuta replied, “I’ll be fine.”  
A few minutes later, the skiff stopped. The soldier turned back to Makuta: “Good luck, pal.”  
“Thanks, I’ll need it.” Makuta replied before jumping out of the skiff, landing perfectly on his feet on the ground below. Once the skiff turned around and zoomed away, Makuta turned and ran in the direction of Brightmoon, and after a few minutes, could see its glow from the distance. Soon, he got to the gates, and slipped through with a group of travelers entering the kingdom.  
Once he was in, he made his way to Brightmoon’s castle; if he was going to find weaknesses, he might as well start at the biggest symbol of power in the kingdom. Reaching the wall of the castle, he brought out one of his gadgets, a teleporter, and threw it over the wall. Once it went over, he hit a button on his gauntlet, and immediately was teleported to where the device landed. Thankfully, no one was there to see him. Makuta grinned and cracked his knuckles, purring in glee; now the real fun could begin.


	2. Makuta: Discovering the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As he ventures further into Brightmoon castle, Makuta comes to a crossroads as he discovers a terrifying truth.

Now that he was inside the castle, Makuta ran through the halls as quickly as he could; he needed to find a control room of some kind, anywhere where he could hack the system and look into the kingdom’s security data. As he was running, he suddenly heard voices coming from behind him, and, looking around in a panic, saw a rafter above him and scaled the wall up to it. Just in time too, as when he looked down, he saw to figure approaching. One was a dark-skinned guy with a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back. The other was a girl in a purple outfit that seemed to be really glittery for some reason, which Makuta found weird.  
“Glimmer, are you sure you saw someone go through here?” the boy asked, “I don’t see anyone.”  
“Bow, I swear, he came right through here,” the girl replied, “You just didn’t see it in time.”  
Makuta made sure to be as silent as possible, though his heart was pounding; how the heck did she see him?!  
“Maybe he kept going,” Glimmer said, “Follow me.”  
“Why are we even following this mystery guy?” Bow asked.  
“Because he looked odd.”  
“Weird people walk through this castle ALL THE TIME.”  
“But I’ve never seen someone like him. He had a tail, for goodness sake!”  
Bow paused for a moment, then admitted: “Okay, that is a little strange even for here, but I’m sure it’s just a costume or something.”  
“Let’s just keep going, I want to get a better look.”  
Bow sighed, “Fine,” and the two began to run, and Makuta breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, Bow stopped and said: “Wait, I heard something.”  
“Yeah, I did too.” Glimmer replied.  
Oh, crap. Makuta thought, apparently he had sighed a bit too loud. Suddenly, Bow whipped around and shot an arrow in Makuta’s direction. Makuta prepared to catch it, but as he did, it let off a flash of light, blinding him and causing him to slip off the rafter. Seeing him fall, Glimmer teleported over, catching him before he hit the ground. He was stunned and barely able to regain his senses, while Glimmer looked him over.  
“Who are you?” she said, putting him down; she had never seen someone like him before. The claws on his fingers, his wild black hair, even his fangs; all of it was new and bizarre. Then…  
“There, see!” she said pointing to his tail, “I told you he had a tail.”  
Bow was shocked by the sight: “Who or what, even is that?! Is that actually a real tail?”  
“Only one way to find out,” Glimmer said, and she stepped on the tail. The pain was more than enough to bring Makuta back to his senses, and he shot up, roaring in anger. Bow and Glimmer screamed and backed up as Makuta glared at them on all fours, growling.  
“One thing you need to know about me,” he said, “NEVER step on the tail. Period. Exclamation mark.”  
“Okay, sorry!” Glimmer said, “I didn’t know if it was real or not!”  
“Who are you?” Bow asked.  
Calming down a bit, Makuta stood up: “You first.”  
“I’m Bow, and this is my friend, princess Glimmer.” Bow said. Glimmer shyly waved.  
“I take it you must be new here?” Glimmer asked.  
Makuta shrugged: “You could say something like that. Name’s Makuta by the way.”  
“Well, we can show you around, if you want.”  
“Yeah,” Bow agreed, “It’s the least we can do since we kinda stunned you and then stepped on your tail.”  
Makuta thought for a bit, then realized this was a big opportunity for him. If he got the trust of a princess, it would not only draw suspicion away from him, but it would also help him find the REAL weaknesses, which the Horde could definitely use.  
“Okay,” Makuta said, “Just don’t step on my tail again.”  
“Wasn’t planning on it.” Bow said.  
About a week passed, and Makuta ended up spending a lot of time with Glimmer and Bow, even getting a room in between theirs. He even felt like they were becoming his friends, a though which both frightened and comforted him, though he wasn’t sure why. He had been secretly contacting Shadow Weaver during the night to keep her updated as the mission went on, though he left out the shocking bit that there were hardly any weaknesses; we would not reveal that until he actually found something worthwhile.   
Even more shocking was that as they showed him around the kingdom, he looked at all the people that lived there, and realized something he never anticipated. These people seemed so innocent; not one of them looked like the threatening people that he had been told they were in the Fright Zone. Even Glimmer and Bow seemed too upbeat to be any sort of terrifying. The only thing terrifying about them was Bow’s trick arrows, which were way too unpredictable.  
“Okay, seriously, how many of those do you have?!” he asked one day after being woken up by a sonic arrow shot into his room.  
“It never hurts to have more than a few trick arrows,” Bow said, “You never know when they might come in handy.”  
What frightened Makuta the most is that he was actually beginning to doubt what the Horde had told him. The way these people treated each other was almost like how he treated Catra and Adora; like family. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore; he decided to ask Glimmer something when the two were together in a hallway.  
“What do you know about the Horde?” he asked.  
“What do you mean?” Glimmer said.  
“I mean, you guys barely bring them up. I know there’s some kind of war going on between you and them, but I’m not fully sure.”  
“Well, we are at war with them, but for us, it’s for a good cause. The Horde is a bunch of murderers and destroyers. They’ve wrecked so many of our villages and homes, and don’t care about it at all.”  
“That bad?”  
“Come with me. I’ll show you.” Gimmer said, and she led him to her room, where she pulled out a datapad. After flipping through a few files, she tapped one and handed it to Makuta. It was footage of a Horde attack. As Makuta watched, horror began to well up inside him. His whole life, he had believed that they were heroes, but that wasn’t what he saw in the footage; there he saw innocent people going about their day, only to be attacked, raided, and slaughtered by Horde soldiers. It was too much to bear, and he almost dropped the pad. Glimmer noticed the terrified expression on his face.  
“Are you okay?” she asked.  
“I-I, I don’t know,” Makuta replied, then, “Excuse me,” and he bolted to his room. Once he ran in, he shut the door behind him and collapsed on his bed, his hands pressed on either side of his head. It was as if his entire world was falling apart. He realized he was on the wrong side, as were Adora and Catra; which horrified him the most. Soon, he actually began to break down and cry uncontrollably. After a few minutes, he sat up, and though his tears kept coming, he was quieter about it.  
“Are you alright?” said a woman’s voice.  
Makuta turned to see Glimmer and her mother, Queen Angella in the doorway. He had only met Angella once before, when Glimmer had introduced the two, and she allowed him to stay in the castle for the time being. Angella walked in and sat next to him: “You look terrified, was is something Glimmer did?”  
“No,” Makuta said, his resolve set; he was going to tell her the truth, no matter what happened, “It’s something I’ve done.”  
“What do you mean?” Angella asked. Glimmer looked at his solemn face and figured it out.  
“You’re Horde, aren’t you?” she asked.  
Makuta looked at Glimmer and nodded, tears still in his eyes, “I was sent here as a spy,” he confessed, “They wanted someone to find a weakness in your kingdom that they could use to destroy the kingdom.”  
“Why are you telling us this?” Angella asked in shock.  
“Because my time here with Glimmer and Bow showed me something the Horde didn’t,” Makuta answered, “That I was on the wrong side. I’ve been Horde ever since I was little, and they always taught me that they were the heroes. After what Glimmer showed me, it became clear that the Horde had been lying to me the whole time, and it horrified me to the core. Now that I realized that the Horde are the real murderers, I decided to tell you the truth, so there.”  
For a while all was silent as Angella and Glimmer looked at Makuta in shock of what he had just told them.  
“Well,” Makuta said, “Aren’t you going to arrest me or something? I just said I’m Horde!”  
Angella warmly smiled, “On the contrary, a loyal Horde spy would not simply give themselves away, and I sense you are telling the truth.”  
“What are you saying?” Makuta asked.  
“I’m saying that I’m willing to give you a second chance. A chance to live here as one of us, truly.”  
Makuta began to light up: “You’re serious?!”  
Angela nodded. Becoming almost overjoyed, Makuta gave Angela a small hug and whispered: “Thank you,” before pulling back in embarrassment: “Um, sorry. Was I allowed to do that?”  
Angella chuckled: “I’ll allow it.”  
Makuta breathed a sigh of relief, then knelt down and reached under his bed, pulling out all the files and papers he had been collecting for the Horde.  
“Do you have a fireplace or something I can throw these in?” he asked.  
A few minutes later, Makuta watched in contentment as all the files and the communicator he had used to keep in touch with Shadow Weaver and had now crushed burned in a fire pit. He breathed a sigh of relief, as if a massive burden was just lifted off of him; in a way, there was. Glimmer and Bow stood next to him.  
“Sorry about scaring you with the video.” Glimmer said.  
Makuta waved it aside: “Don’t be. For all I’m concerned what you did just saved me. Thank you.”  
Glimmer nodded, then asked, “So now what?”  
“I’m going to fight back, alongside you guys. I’m just hoping I don’t run into Adora and Catra.”  
“Who?”  
“Catra is my sister. Adora is my best friend. We grew up in the Horde together.”  
“Oh. Yeah, that’ll be rough if you have to fight them.” Bow said.  
Makuta nodded, “Well, let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”  
Bow grinned: “So, does this mean we have a new member of the Best Friend Squad?”  
“The what?” Makuta asked.  
“It’s what he calls us as a group.” Glimmer explained.  
“Oh, well, in that case, I think so.”  
Bow pumped his fist in the air: “This calls for a best friend party. Everyone, to our rooms!” and then ran off, Glimmer following him saying: “You better not mess up my room again!”  
Makuta laughed to himself as he followed the two back to their rooms; he was unsure if he was ever going to see Adora or Catra again, but for right now, he felt that he had found a new home, and he was going to enjoy it very much…


	3. Makuta: Rebel Recruitment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bow and Glimmer get Makuta to help in making a Rebel Recruitment video.

In the days that followed, Makuta became widely respected in Brightmoon as it was an extremely rare occurrence that someone would defect from the Horde. Queen Angella even arranged to fake his capture and death so that the Horde would finally stay away from him for good, though this didn’t fully go over well with Makuta himself as he knew Catra and Adora would both think he was dead and he did not want them to feel that kind of pain, but he agreed, albeit reluctantly.   
On a brighter note, Bow and Glimmer became very good friends of his and they ended up doing a lot together, though training was rough due to the fact that Makuta far outclassed both of them in combat and strength, leaving him to restrain himself after tearing apart one of the practice bots long before either of the other two. He ended up training on his own from that point on. What got Makuta’s attention the most was that, as it turned out, he and Bow had a very particular fondness for weapons, and it was on one particular day that Bow decided to take Makuta down to the armory to show him around the weapons that the rebellion used.   
“if you’re gonna fight with us,” he explained, “You need to use our weapons. Luckily, even though I do use bows and arrows a lot, I just so happen to be an expert on matching the right weapon with the right person. If there’s something in there that suits you, I’ll know.”  
“And if there isn’t?” Makuta asked.  
Bow chuckled, considering what we have, I doubt that’ll happen,” and he opened the door to the armory.  
Once they walked in the door, Makuta’s jaw dropped; inside was the biggest collection of weaponry he had ever seen: swords, daggers, guns, you name it.  
Bow noticed Makuta’s reaction and chuckled: “That was my reaction too when I first came here.”  
Makuta immediately began sorting through the various weapons, testing a few swords to see how heavy they were, and inspecting some of the guns.  
“You guys have just about every weapon I can think of in here.” He finally said to Bow, “I’m impressed.”  
“Yeah, well, we take what we can get,” Bow replied.  
Makuta got a joyful glitter in his eyes at that, and he began looking through each weapon that interested him: a dagger, a few swords, even an axe. Finally, his eyes rested on some sort of black case with a handle at the top; he went over to check it out.  
“What’s this?” he asked.  
“I’ve heard it’s some experimental weapon, but I’m not fully sure what it is.” Bow replied.  
Makuta shrugged: “Well, only one way to find out.” And he picked up the case, the handle changed positions and the case began to change, folding out until it became a plasma charged automatic shotgun. Makuta’s eyes went wide as he and Bow gasped in astonishment at the weapon.  
“This…is the coolest thing…I have ever seen.” Makuta said.  
“Yeah,” Bow agreed, “It matches your armor too.”  
“I’ll take it,” Makuta said, a massive grin on his face.  
“I figured you would. And while we’re here,” Bow said walking to a sword rack, pulling out a fair of medium sized swords that retracted into the hilts and could easily clip to his belt: “I figured these would help too. They’re concealment swords, best used on stealth missions or surprise attacks.”  
“Now that’s something that can get my attention.” Makuta said, temporarily putting the shotgun down to grab them. He took the swords and swung them around a bit to get a feel for them; they were certainly balanced enough and were obviously made for making fast strikes, which was something he thoroughly supported. He nodded to Bow and said: “Yeah, I guess these will work too.”  
“Alright then,” Bow said, “Take ‘em and let’s head on out.” And he turned to leave. Makuta clipped the concealed swords to his belt, slung the shotgun over his shoulder, and went to follow.  
Soon, the two made it back to Makuta’s room, where Glimmer was waiting.  
“How’d it go?” she asked.  
“Pretty smoothly,” Makuta said.  
“Find anything good?”  
Makuta answered by bringing out the shotgun for her to see, then holstered it and pulled out the swords, extending them to their full length. Glimmer whistled in admiration and said: “Those do look pretty good on you.”  
“See?” Bow said, pointing to himself “Weapon expert.”  
Makuta nodded: “I suppose you are.”  
“Anyways,” Glimmer said, “Bow and I have been trying to make these videos to help gain support for the Rebellion. You should totally do one.”  
“Me?” Makuta asked.  
Glimmer nodded: “What better way to draw attention away from the Horde than someone who was with the Horde and knows them for what they really are?”  
“That could actually work!” Bow said, “Good thinking.”  
Makuta nodded in understanding: “You’ve got a point.”  
“So, you’ll do it?” Glimmer asked.  
“Sure, why not.” Makuta replied with a shrug.  
“Awesome!” Bow shouted, “I’ll go get the trackerpad.”  
…  
The screen came to life, the camera focusing on Bow’s face as he made the last few adjustments.  
“Alright, we’re good.” He said, and then, zooming the camera out a little bit, began: “Hi, potential recruits, Bow here, and today, we have a very exciting speaker here with us. As you know, we need recruits join the Rebellion against the Horde, and what better person to help get recruits to fight the Horde, than someone who used to be with the Horde, and knows what they really are. Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s Makuta.” Here, he flips the camera around to reveal Makuta reclining on one of his chairs, Glimmer next to him. Makuta smiled and waved at the camera.  
“How’s it going, guys?” he said.  
“So,” Glimmer said, “We just need you to answer a few questions for us to help tell the recruits what they need to know, okay?”  
“How many questions are there?” Makuta asked. Glimmer pulled out a relatively large scroll, and Makuta’s eyes widened.  
“What?” he said “Alright, no, we’re not doing that.” Then, smacking the scroll out of Glimmer’s hands, he then cracked his knuckles, and grabbed the pad from Bow: “Questions won’t get the point across, but my way can.”  
The screen fizzled again, coming back into focus to see Makuta standing in front of them, his arms folded in a very soldier-like stance.  
“Alright, listen up recruits,” he began, “The name’s Makuta. As you may know, we’re fighting a war against the Horde, but some of you may not even know what the Horde even is. Well, let me clarify some details. I used to be one of them myself before turning to the Rebellion, so I know more about them than most people here in the Rebellion. Here’s what I can tell you. The Horde is a destructive faction led by a tyrannical maniac who will stop at nothing to control Etheria, and he’s more than happy to kill everyone that stands in his way to get there. However, don’t let that discourage you, because we have something that HE doesn’t!”  
“We do?” Glimmer asked.  
Makuta nodded: “Yes. From what I’ve seen, we have better teamwork, better magic, and now, a new ultimate weapon: ME. I’m a stealth master; heck, I even snuck into Brightmoon castle unseen.”  
“Eh, sorta.” Glimmer said, not quite sure where he was going with this.  
“And I’m also really tough.” Here the screen shows Makuta in a Rebellion training simulator, slashing and throwing training bots around. Then it switches back to Makuta, Glimmer and Bow on either side of him.  
“If the Horde wants to stop me, they’re going to need a whole army. So imagine what they will need when we are all united as one. When we stay together, they will never win. This I know to be true.”  
“But we still need all the help we can get,” Bow continued, “So join the fight against the Horde and protect our home from these evil invaders.”  
“Good luck,” Glimmer said.  
“And we’ll see you in the Rebellion.” Makuta finished, and then Bow stopped the recording.  
“Nice!” Bow said, “I’m definitely putting that out.”  
“What was all that about you being the ‘ultimate weapon’ and all that?” Glimmer asked Makuta.  
Makuta blushed in embarrassment: “Sorry, got carried away.”  
Glimmer and Bow laughed.  
“Don’t worry,” Glimmer said, “It was just a bit unexpected, that’s all.”  
“I will admit though,” Bow said, “It definitely seemed a lot better than the questions we planned out.”  
Recovering from his embarrassment, Makuta crossed his arms, a smug smile on his face as he said: “See, told ya.”  
In the weeks that followed, Makuta took it upon himself to take out Horde camps scattered near Etherian towns. Being a stealth expert, he and Glimmer made a pretty good team, with Glimmer getting him into tough places, Makuta getting what they needed and placing the explosives, then Glimmer getting them out before anyone saw. Makuta’s eyes always shone with delight when they saw the explosion from the distance, and Glimmer could swear she heard him purring in contentment as he watched. However, he did go on solo missions from time to time.   
After one particular solo mission, where he not only got to destroy the camp, but also humiliate a long time stealth rival, Double Trouble, Makuta was on a transport skiff and on his way back to the castle as he called Glimmer. The image of her face popped up after a few moments.  
“Hey, Glimmer,” he said, “Just wanted you to know that I’m on my way back right now.”  
“You destroyed it already?!” Glimmer said, “That’s a new record.”  
“What can I say,” he shrugged, “Records are made to be broken.”  
“Well, when you get back, we got a bit of a surprise for ya.”  
“You do?”  
Glimmer nodded: “Another Horde defector.”  
Makuta’s eyes widened in surprise: “Seriously?!”  
“I know, right! We’re with her right now, so you’ll get to meet her when you get back.”  
“I certainly look forward to that.” Then, Glimmer hung up. After a few minutes of thinking, Makuta paused; Glimmer said the defector was a she.  
“Could it be?” he said to himself, but he tried not to get his hopes up. Soon the skiff reached Brightmoon and entered the landing docks. Makuta stepped of as a Rebellion commander walked up to him, asking: “What did you blow up this time?”  
“You can officially deem sector 4 as cleared of Horde camps now,” Makuta answered.   
“Bout time. I’ll mark it on the maps. Good work.”  
Makuta nodded and then headed for his room. Walking in, he put his shotgun on a hanger mountedon the wall and then crashed on his bed curled up, and closed his eyes; he really could use a good catnap. A few hours later, he woke up, feeling refreshed. Stretching his back, his ears perked up as he heard voices coming from Glimmer’s room. Walking over to check, he heard both Glimmer and Bow, but then he heard a third voice, one that was vaguely familiar.  
“So, you’re saying I’m not the only one to defect?” the voice, a girl’s said.  
“Yeah, someone else defected about a month before you did,” Glimmer responded.  
“Where is he?”  
“On his way back from a mission, but he should be back any minute now.”  
Makuta then decided to knock on the door. Moments later, the door opened to reveal Bow.  
“Oh, hey there.” Bow said, “We were actually just talking about you. All good things, I promise. Come on in.”  
Makuta nodded and promptly walked in. Glimmer stood nearby and waved, but then he turned to the third person in the room, and his heart nearly stopped. It was a blonde girl in a red Horde outfit; a girl he knew all too well as the memories came flooding back. Apparently, it was the same with the girl as she stared at him, a shocked, dumbfounded expression on her face. Bow looked between the two after a few moments of silence: “Soooo, you guys already know each other?”  
After a few more silent moments: Makuta finally said: “Adora…is that you?”  
“Makuta?” Adora whispered, walking over to him. Just then, Adora jumped and hugged Makuta the tightest she ever had, and Makuta quickly hugged back, tears in both of their eyes.  
“I never thought I would see you here.” Makuta said, pulling back.  
“I thought you were dead!” Adora replied.  
“Nah, I don’t die that easily. Besides, I only faked my death to get the Horde off my back for good. I didn’t realize you and Catra would hear of it too.” Here, his ears drooped in shame: “I’m sorry for putting you through that.”  
Adora slowly smiled and warmly hugged Makuta again: “Well, you’re here, aren’t you? That’s all that matters.”  
Makuta perked up and smiled; he wasn’t expecting Adora would forgive him that quickly, but he didn’t question it. After he and Adora finished embracing each other, they pulled back, and then Makuta noticed a golden sword strapped to Adora’s back.  
“You got a weapon already?” he asked.  
“Sort of,” Adora said, “We’ve got a lot to catch up about.”  
“Well,” Makuta said as the four sat down, “I got plenty of time. You start.”


	4. Makuta: Sibling Rivalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makuta squares off against Catra for the first time since he defected.

Makuta and Adora spent the next few days rebuilding their relationship, filling each other in on where they had been since Makuta left. The events weren’t that surprising to Makuta, except for one, which was Adora’s now being She-Ra. He refused to believe it until Adora transformed right in front of him, effectively putting the fear of God into him. There was also one thing that saddened him greatly; Catra had not come with Adora and decided to stay with the Horde, meaning he would have to fight her, something he greatly dreaded and hoped would never happen.  
On a brighter side of things, Bow had opted to add Makuta and Adora to a tabletop game he was creating, with the playable characters being miniatures of the Rebellion heroes, each with their own unique skills and powers. He already had made Glimmer and himself, but he wanted to keep adding as he went along, and, with Adora and Makuta’s permission, he got to work crafting the figures. Makuta decided to help out, saying he can use his claws to help sculpt the finer details.  
“The better the details,” Makuta explained, “The better the figure’s gonna look overall.”  
“Hm, well, you do have a point,” Bow said, “Tell, you what, you know yourself and Adora much better than I do, so you can sculpt the figures, while I brainstorm ideas for your guys’ powers.”  
A few minutes later, Makuta and Bow sat at a desk in Bow’s room. Makuta was using his claws to carefully sculpt figures of both him and Adora from rectangular blocks of plastic, while bow sat next to him, jotting down the character sheets.  
“Should I sculpt Adora in her normal form or as She-Ra?” Makuta asked.  
“I would do her normal form,” Bow replied, “But, she should definitely have the ability to become She-Ra for a certain number of turns.”  
“Agreed, and maybe it should have a cooldown too.”  
“Definitely.”  
The two continued working on like this for a few minutes: Makuta sculpting with deadly precision while trading thoughts on powers back and forth with Bow. Soon, Makuta had finished Adora’s figure; she stood on a rocky hill in a heroic pose with one arm holding the sword in a swinging motion. Just as Makuta said, the details were stunningly accurate. Bow finished her character sheet a few minutes later.  
“It’s like I’m looking at a tinier Adora.” Bow said happily when he saw the figure. Makuta nodded, then the two got to work on Makuta’s figure.  
“So, what would you say would be special abilities you have?” Bow asked, starting Makuta’s sheet.  
Makuta thought for a bit, “I would probably say sneaking up is a good ability of mine. I also have pretty good strength, am a tech expert, and I can handle most weapons.”  
“Alright, I’ll add them to proficiencies,” Bow said, writing them down, “Do you have any actual powers though?”  
“Not that I can think of.” Makuta said.  
“I’ll just try thinking of a few that match how you fight.” Bow said.  
Just then, Glimmer teleported into the room: “Guys!” she shouted, a determined expression on her face.  
“Oh, hey Glimmer,” Makuta said, “What’s going on?”  
“We got a problem,” she said, “We found a small team of Horde soldiers outside the kingdom sneaking around. Adora and I were about to head out to drive them back; you wanna come?”  
“Sure, I gotta try out some new trick arrows of mine. Besides, I could use a break.” Bow answered excitedly, grabbing his bow and quiver.  
Makuta cracked his knuckles and purred in delight: “Agreed, Bow. We can finish this later. Right now, I gotta blow someone up!” then, he ran to his room to grab his shotgun and a few other gadgets.  
…  
A few minutes later, Bow and Makuta ran to meet Glimmer and Adora, now in She-Ra form, who were waiting at the castle wall.  
“So, where are they?” Makuta asked.  
“Last we saw, they were coming from somewhere over there,” Glimmer replied, pointing straight out from the wall. Makuta took out a pair of techno-binoculars and, activating it’s thermal mode, looked in the direction she was pointing. Within a few moments, he saw the thermal images of five figures hidden in the forest and heading in the direction of the kingdom.  
“I see em. There’s about five.” He said to the others, “I also have an idea.”  
“What is it?” She-Ra asked.  
“You and Glimmer get their attention, while Bow and I pick them off from sneak attacks and arrows.”  
“I actually like that plan,” Glimmer said, “I can get you and Bow to the treetops.”  
Makuta nodded, then grabbed one of Glimmer’s hands. Once Bow grabbed the other, Glimmer teleported the two into nearby treetops. Bow drew his arrow and waited to take a shot, while Makuta crouched among the leaves and watched the clearing ahead. Within a few moments, five figures emerged from the foliage: two humans, a lizardman, a tall, muscular woman that was part scorpion, and a cat girl that looked similar to Makuta. Immediately recognizing the cat girl as Catra, Makuta sighed in frustration; of course she had to be here. He also recognized the others as Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio, though he didn’t recognize the scorpion lady.  
Thinking about how he was going to ambush the five, he saw Glimmer and She-Ra drop down into view.  
“Really, Catra,” She-Ra said, “Again?”  
“Hey Adora,” Catra said, “Is it just you and Sparkles this time?”  
“Not quite,” She-Ra said, as Bow fired an arrow into the group. The arrow exploded on impact with the ground, sending the two humans, Lonnie and Kyle, flying back.  
“Oh, boy!” the scorpion woman said, a worried look on her face, “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”  
“Shut it, Scorpia!!” Catra yelled. “Whoever’s still standing, get them!”  
“It doesn’t have to be this way, Catra.” She-Ra said, “You can still join us and be free of the Horde.”  
“After what you did?” Catra yelled.  
“The Horde is deceiving you. They are the evil ones. And I’m not the first one to figure that out.”  
Catra paused here, “What do you mean?”  
Here, Makuta decided to make his move; letting out a booming, lion’s roar, he sprang out if the trees and ran in between Catra and She-Ra. Running up, Rogelio planned to smack Makuta down, but just as he launched his fist, Makuta grabbed it before it could connect with his face. With the lizardman stunned by the fact that someone had just caught his blow, Makuta grabbed Rogelio’s arm, spun him around a few times, then let go, sending the lizard flying into a tree so hard, he made a dent in the wood. Makuta then turned to face Catra. Catra’s face was stricken and bewildered.  
“Makuta?” she said, “But…you’re dead!”  
“If I was dead, would I be here in front of you?” Makuta replied, still keeping his guard up.  
Scorpia looked confused: “Catra, you know this guy?”  
“Yeah,” Catra replied, “He’s my brother.”  
Wide eyed, Scorpia looked between the two, then said: “Ohhhhh, I see it now.” Leading to Catra facepalming.  
“Yeah, great.” Catra said, “Now are you gonna help us or not, Makuta?”  
Makuta looked Catra dead in the eyes and then walked over to She-Ra’s side: “Sorry, no can do.”  
Catra stared in disbelief: “What?! You’re with them?”  
“I defected long before Adora. When I was spying here, I learned the truth about the Horde and this war, so I decided to choose the right side.”  
“But…you’re my brother. We’re supposed to be together as siblings.” Catra’s eyes were beginning to tear up.  
Makuta’s expression softened: “And you’re still my sister. I’ll always love you, but I cannot be part of a group of murderers anymore. Who do you think was destroying all those Horde camps.”  
“That was you?” Scorpia said, “Wow. I’m honestly impressed.”  
Catra became conflicted, and she stood there clutching her head for a few moments. Then, she stared at Makuta and unsheathed her claws: “Fine then, traitor.”  
“I don’t want fight you, Catra.” Makuta said, bringing out his own claws.  
“Well, too bad,” Catra said before pouncing on Makuta in a flash. As everyone watched, the two grappled ferociously, clawing at each other until Makuta finally threw her off. Quickly recovering, Catra got down on all fours, hissing with a wild look in her eyes. Makuta did the same, uttering a deep growl as the two faced each other. Adora stood back; she had lived with the two long enough to know what was about to happen.  
“You guys might want to get back,” she said to the others, “This is about to get real ugly.”  
She spoke not a moment too soon as Makuta and Catra charged at each other, claws bared, and locked in a brutal fight, clawing and punching at each other  
“What happened to not wanting to fight me?” Catra said when they got in an arm lock.  
“I said I didn’t want to fight you.” Makuta replied, “I never said I wasn’t going to though.” Here, he grabbed Catra’s arms and swung her around, smashing her into a tree. Weakened, Catra slowly got up to see Makuta pointing his shotgun at her face.  
“If you’re staying with them,” Makuta said, “Then I’m only gonna ask this once. Get out of here.”  
“So that’s it then,” Catra said, “You’re just gonna treat me like another enemy?”  
“If you were just another enemy, I would have blasted your head off already. Besides, you think I enjoy doing this to you? I don’t; not even a little. You’re my sister, and despite the things you might do in the future, I’ll still love you. So, I’m giving you the option to leave now with your dignity intact. I suggest you choose wisely.”  
For a few incredibly tense moments, the two siblings stared at each other, everyone else anxiously watching from the sidelines. Then, Catra slowly stood up.  
“Fine,” she said, “But don’t think for a second that this is over between us. Both you and Adora will pay for your betrayal.”  
“Good,” Makuta said, “I can afford it. Besides, I could use a decent challenge from time to time.”  
Catra glared one last time, then started to leave: “Come on, Scorpia.” She said. Scorpia picked up the fallen three Horde recruits, the looked back at Makuta, a shocked expression on her face by what she had just seen. Makuta then let out a fierce growl, making Scorpia yelp in fright and then run after Catra. Once he was sure they were gone, Makuta holstered his shotgun.  
“Ooookay,” Bow finally said after a few moments, “That was a bit more intense than I thought it would be.”  
“Yeah, no kidding,” Glimmer said, “I mean, I’ve seen Makuta fight before, but nothing like that.”  
She-Ra noticed Makuta’s expression as he still looked out into the woods: his face was set in anger, but she could see tears welling up in his eyes. She walked over and, turning back into Adora, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
“You okay?” she asked.  
“I don’t know what got into her.” Makuta replied, “I honestly though she would listen to me and join us.”  
“We all make our own choices. Catra made hers, and now she’s going to have to live with it. I don’t want to fight her either, if you’re wondering.”  
“Well, we don’t always get what we want, now do we?”  
Adora shrugged: “Fair enough, I guess.”  
Glimmer walked up: “Just don’t let it distract you from what you have here,” she said, “You found a new home, new friends.”  
“You even got Adora back,” Bow said, “Who knows, maybe Catra will change her mind too.”  
Makuta sighed, “I hope so.”  
Adora leaned over and hugged Makuta: “See, we’re gonna be fine.”  
Makuta couldn’t answer as he was massively blushing; he still felt weird when Adora hugged him.  
Bow and Glimmer laughed as they saw Makuta’s expression.  
“I know what that means,” Glimmer said, “You like her, don’t you.”  
“What?!” Makuta said, as if snapping out of a trance, “I, uh, don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
Now it was Adora’s turn to laugh.  
“Well, we should probably get back to the castle before my mom sees me,” Glimmer said.  
“Agreed,” Bow said, “Besides, Makuta and I gotta finish those figures for the game. Right, Makuta?”  
Makuta finally recovered from his embarrassment: “Oh, right. Yeah, we do. I still gotta get myself fully sculpted out.”  
With that, the group made their way back to the castle, Makuta looking over his shoulder at where Catra had left before joining the group. Once they could see Brightmoon, Glimmer teleported the gang into her room. Bow and Makuta ran back to Bow’s room to finish their project, and after about a half hour more of work, Makuta finished his figure of himself: He was standing on a metal floor, his shotgun holstered on his back with one hand holding his sword out and to the side, while his other hand had its claws bared.  
“Epic!” Bow said as Makuta showed him the figure, “These are gonna be great additions to the game.”  
Makuta chuckled as he put the figure down on the table. Then he looked out the window towards the forest. He thought of what Catra must be going through right now. He knew this was far from the last time they would clash, but it would not stop him from trying to get his sister back. For right now though, just like he would with Bow’s game, he would have to play along with the Horde’s game…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Makuta is straight, yes, but Adora's hug was more like a sibling hug.


	5. Makuta: A New Horizon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited after Horde Prime's defeat, Makuta and Catra decide on the creation of a new fighting force.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one will have a bit of a time jump at the beginning, so I will sum it up the best I can.

Over the next few years, Makuta would deepen his friendship with Bow, Glimmer, and Adora, and he would also make friends with some of the other princesses. Most impressively, he was able to get along relatively well with Frosta as they both had a passion for blowing stuff up. The only princess he could not seem to get along with was Perfuma; her gentle nature sharply conflicted his warlike nature. Adora, however, was a relationship that ended up going a little farther than just friendship; she actually was becoming more and more like a sister to him. Catra and Makuta, however, became bitter rivals, always seeming to cross paths, and claws, with each other on missions. Makuta usually came out on top in the fights, but he was worried he would lose Catra forever. Thankfully, just as Bow said might happen, Catra did defect, and was saved from Horde Prime’s control, though it took some considerable time for Makuta and Catra to actually rebuild their relationship.  
Makuta was present at the final battle against Horde Prime, but he was busy holding off Horde clones, keeping them from attacking Adora while she faced Horde Prime alone. He almost died in that battle, but was saved when Adora used her powers as She-Ra and restored the land Horde Prime had desolated, as well as killing Horde Prime forever.  
…  
A few days later, Makuta, Catra, and Adora sat together on a field, enjoying the day.  
“Sure is peaceful.” Adora said.  
“Never thought I would live to see the day we would actually win for good,” Makuta said.  
“You can say that again.” Catra said.  
After a few more moments of calm silence, Catra asked: “So, what do we do now?”  
“Well, Scorpia and I were planning on going to hunt down any remaining Horde loyalists.” Makuta said  
“Sounds fun.”  
“I’d totally go with you,” Adora said, “But according to Glimmer, I still have some duties here as She-Ra.”  
“It’s all good.” Makuta said.  
Just then, Glimmer teleported to where they were.  
“Oh,” Glimmer said, “Am I interrupting anything?”  
“If by anything you mean a perfect relaxation with friends, then yes.” Makuta replied with a frustrated expression..  
“Right, sorry, but we need Adora for some, you know…She-Ra stuff.”  
Adora nodded, then turned to the cat siblings: “I gotta go.”  
“Later,” Makuta said. Adora leaned over to kiss Catra, then turned to leave.  
“Lucky,” Makuta said.  
“Relax bro,” Catra said, “I’m sure you’ll find someone eventually.”  
Makuta shrugged, “Maybe.”  
The two laid down on the grass next to each other in silence for a few moments, than Catra said: “You wanna know something?”  
“You want to grow your hair out again?” Makuta replied, “Cause I totally agree.”  
“What? Well, actually yeah, I kinda hate this short hair, but that’s not what I’m trying to say.”  
“What then?”  
“I can’t believe I’m even saying this,” Catra said, “but I don’t think we should join the Princess Alliance.”  
Makuta sat up: “What do you mean?”  
“I mean, come on, look at us. We’re not princesses. We’re not even princess material.”  
“True enough, but what are you suggesting?”  
“What if we made our own alliance? We can still be friends with the princesses, obviously, but our team should be made of people who are like us: people who don’t really fit in anywhere else.”  
“You mean like outcasts?”  
“No, that’s a bit of a strong word. I was thinking more like rogues.”  
Makuta though for a bit: “A Rogue Squad.” He said.  
“Yeah, something like that.” Catra said.  
Makuta nodded in agreement: “I’ll see if we can work that out when I get back from my Horde hunting with Scorpia; it’s definitely a good idea to look into. For right now though, it’ll just be you and me.”  
“Fine with me,” Catra said. “We have a lot of catching up to do as siblings anyways.”  
“Fair enough,” said Makuta, then, raising his hand in a sort of arm wrestling position, just not touching the ground: “To the Rouge Squad?”  
Catra looked for a few moments, then smiled and purred in glee as she gripped his hand in a similar way: “To the Rouge Squad.”  
Both siblings were unaware of the consequences forming this team would have on the fate of the entire universe…


	6. Skorp/Waspix: Reemergence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone from Scorpia's past returns

It was night in the forests outside of Pulmeria. Nights like these are usually calm, but the silence was being disturbed in the woods by a small group of Horde soldiers walking through it. It had been a while since the Horde fell, but that didn’t stop surviving loyalists from trying to rebuild the old ways. Right now, they were on the way to cause some destruction in the flowery kingdom. Suddenly they heard something moving through the trees. Pointing their guns up they looked around.  
“Did you hear something?” one of them asked.  
“It sounded like something was in the trees.” Said another.  
Then, a twig snapped, and the soldiers whipped around to where it came from, but all they could hear was what sounded like the whirring of a moving robot. Then, a thudding noise was heard, and the soldiers spun around to see one of their men, dead on the ground with a stab wound in his back; a hole in the ground was also next to him.  
“Shoot the ground!” One of the soldiers said, and they all began to do so just a metallic shape soared in and began smacking the soldiers in the head, one by one. At this point they were all as confused as possible, and at this point began shooting every which way, unable to prepare for a giant metallic figure to erupt from the ground and attack. It was at least 6 feet tall and was humanoid, except for its four, insectoid legs, pincers for hands, four glowing, beady red eyes, and long mechanical scorpion tail, complete with stinger. The figure’s pincers opened up, morphing into cannons, and he began blasting away at the soldiers, killing them off; his tail impaling those who tried to escape. After a few minutes, the ground was littered with the bodies of the dead Horde soldiers. One of the soldiers, however, had survived, and was desperately crawling away from the battle.  
The figure noticed: “Huh, I missed one. That doesn’t happen often.” And he walked up behind the soldier, grabbing him by the neck with his pincers and lifting him up to eye-level. The one who had been flying earlier flew down and hovered by the scorpion. This one was most clearly an older girl, but, just like the scorpion, was fully encased in some kind of robotic armor. She had four arms: one pair in the normal spot,, and another pair a few inches below that. Four wasp-like wings sprouted from her back, though it was hard to tell if they were organic or mechanical. To top it off, a stinger-like appendage, like that of a wasp, was seen right above her rear end, where the spine meets the hip bones. Her helmet was different than the scorpion’s in that it glowed yellow instead of red and had one connecting goggle-like visor instead of the four eyes.  
“What do we do with this one, Skorp?” the wasp girl asked.  
“Simple, Waspix.” Skorp replied, “We ask him what we asked all the others.”  
Then, raising his claw in cannon mode, Skorp growled at the Horde soldier in a threatening voice: “Where…is…Scorpia?”…


	7. Skorp/Waspix: Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of a discovery on Plumeria, Scorpia reveals the hidden truth of her old friend to Makuta.

The next morning in Plumeria came, and it seemed no one was aware of the attack that occurred last night. The people were going about their usual business, and, sitting with princess Perfuma were Scorpia and Makuta. Glimmer had sent the two to help deal with Horde loyalists that had managed to escape and were in hiding outside of her kingdom, and Makuta and Scorpia had just arrived to deal with them.  
“Thank you greatly for coming so quickly,” Perfuma said, “I would hate to see those Horde soldiers attack our home, especially since we already won the war.”  
“That makes two of us,” Makuta said, “They’re just a bunch of sore losers at this point, so this shouldn’t take long.”  
Scorpia cut in: “Hang on, did you two finally just agree on something?”  
Perfuma and Makuta looked at each other briefly in stunned silence; they never agreed on anything until now.  
“I…guess so.” Makuta finally said. Perfuma only nodded her head. Just then, the three heard someone scream from nearby. Whipping out his shotgun, Makuta ran to the source of the scream, Scorpia and Perfuma following close behind. When they got there, they saw a few people gathered around someone lying on the ground. Getting closer, they saw that it was a Horde soldier, massively wounded and very weak. Makuta carefully holstered his gun, but bared his claws just in case. Perfuma knelt down to the soldier and began healing him the best he could with her nature magic. Makuta knelt down next to her.  
“What happened?” he asked the soldier.  
“We…were attacked,” the soldier hoarsely said, “Two…armored bugs…came out of nowhere…I barely escaped.”  
“Armored bugs?” Scorpia said. The soldier looked over at her and pointed to her: “You…not…safe. Scorpion…coming…for you.”  
“Scorpion?” Perfuma said.  
“I think he means that there’s another like Scorpia.” Makuta said.  
Scorpia thought for a few seconds, then gasped in shock: “No way…”  
“What?” Makuta said, turning to Scorpia, “You know who he’s talking about?”  
Scorpia nodded: “There’s only one other of my kind that I know of, the weird thing is that I thought he was dead.”  
“Who?”  
“Not here, we need to be somewhere private.”  
Perfuma spoke up: “I’ll take this one to our healers. You two figure out what to do.”  
Makuta and Scorpia nodded and then left for their tent that they had set up when they had gotten there. Once inside, they sat down across from each other.  
“Alright,” Makuta said, “What do you know?”  
Scorpia’s face seemed sad, as if weighed by guilt: “His name is Skorp. We were both Force Captains at the time.”  
“He’s Horde?”  
“He was. Though if this armored attacker is him, I don’t know what side he’s on now. What I also know is that he was far more serious than I was. He was insanely brutal in battle, possibly more so than you; ambushing enemies from the shadows was one of his favorites.”  
Makuta raised his eyebrows in amazement; hardly anyone was fiercer in combat than himself.  
“So, what happened to him?” Makuta asked.  
Scorpia’s face fell as he remembered the event.  
“We were co-leading an operation into one of Entrapta’s com towers. Everything was going great, but then as we tried to escape, someone activated a self-destruct sequence and the base began collapsing on itself. We ran out as fast as we could, but one of his legs got crushed by debris. I tried to help him the best I could, but everything was collapsing so fast, and I had to get out of there…and…and…”  
“And you left him.” Makuta finished.  
Scorpia slowly nodded: “I had just gotten out as the tower exploded. I thought he was dead after that, but if he’s back…”  
“Were you friends?” a voice asked. Scorpia and Makuta turned to face Perfuma, who was standing at the entrance of the tent.  
“I mean, yeah, we were pretty close. Being of the same kind, we definitely had a lot in common.”  
“I think that might explain why he’s after you.” Perfuma said.  
“What do you mean?” Scorpia asked.  
Perfuma came and sat down next to Scorpia and said: “If you were close friends, and you left him in that base, I think he’s become bitter against you. He probably thinks you abandoned him, leaving him to die. Usually that would mean he’s out for revenge.”  
“I wanted to save him though,” Scorpia argued, “I wouldn’t just leave someone like that, not even in the Horde.”  
“But does he know that?” Perfuma asked.  
Scorpia hung her head in shame; she knew Perfuma had a point.  
“You’ll have to face him. Tell him the truth.” Perfuma said, “He might listen to you if you come as a friend.”  
“And if he doesn’t?” Scorpia asked.  
Makuta bared his claws: “If push comes to shove, I got your back.” He said.  
Scorpia smiled and nodded at Makuta in thanks. Suddenly a villager burst into the tent.  
“What is it?” Perfuma asked.  
“You three are gonna want to see this,” he said, “Someone just came into the kingdom. Two of them.”  
“What do they look like?”  
“Both robotic, I think. One looks like some kind of wasp, the other looks a bit like her.” The villager said, pointing to Scorpia. Scorpia’s heart froze.  
“Thank you,” Perfuma said, “We’re coming.”  
As the villager left the tent, Makuta looked at Scorpia and noticed her horrified expression.  
“Skorp?” he asked.  
“Has to be.” Scorpia replied, “Of course he found me this fast. He can track almost anything.”  
“Well,” said Makuta, standing up, “Looks like it’s showtime. You ready?”  
Scorpia took a few deep breaths: “As I’ll ever be,” she finally said.  
“That’s good enough for me,” Makuta said, “Now, let’s go meet this supposedly dead friend of yours.”


	8. Skorp/Waspix: Mending Fences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia tries for a peaceful reunion with a vengeful Skorp.

Makuta, Scorpia, and Perfuma walked out of the tent and went in the direction the other villager had ran. Scorpia vouched to take the lead, while Makuta and Perfuma followed close behind. Reaching a crowd of people gathered around something, the three moved through the crowd, coming out of it to see Skorp standing there, eyes narrowing as he saw their approach. Waspix hovered next to him.  
“Woah,” Scorpia said; the armor was new to her, especially the four insectoid legs.  
“Skorp?” she said.  
“So, you actually recognized me.” Skorp said.  
“I don’t understand, what happened to you?”  
“You mean you don’t remember?”  
“No, I thought you were dead.”  
Skorp chuckled: “No, but I came close. I was somehow saved at the last minute.”  
“By who?” Scorpia asked. Behind her, Makuta was slowly figuring that very thing out; Scorpia had said they attacked one of Entrapta’s towers. If that exploded, than that only meant that Skorp wasn’t wearing armor, and that he got this new robotic body from…  
Makuta facepalmed: “Of course she did…”  
“What?” Perfuma asked.  
“Remind me to smack Entrapta when we get back.”  
Scorpia overheard this: “Wait,” she said to Skorp, “Entrapta saved you?”  
Here, Waspix nodded, “Yup, she sure did. Skorp doesn’t remember much here so I’ll fill the details in.”  
“I’m sorry. Who are you?” Scorpia asked.  
“My name’s Waspix. I’m Skorp’s cyber partner in combat.”  
Skorp waved the wasp aside, then turned back to Scorpia, eyes narrowed.  
“Look,” Scorpia said, slowly walking towards Skorp, “I’m sorry for what happened. I didn’t want to leave you; you were my friend.”  
“Then why did you?” Skorp demanded.  
“Because I was in the Horde then. Do you have any idea what would happen if Hordak had found out I had put someone’s life above the mission?”  
Skorp thought for a moment; Scorpia actually did have a point there. Hordak did not take acts of selflessness in his ranks lightly. In fact, he actually had seen it as weakness.  
“After that day, I constantly regretted leaving,” Scorpia continued, “I never forgot about it. But I’ve changed now; I left the Horde.”  
“You did?” Skorp asked.  
Scorpia nodded: “And I’m not the only one,” she said pointing to Makuta behind her.  
“Wait, I know you.” Skorp said to Makuta: “You’re the guy who kept showing up Double Trouble.”  
“You know about that?” Makuta asked.  
Skorp nodded: “The guy would NOT shut up about it; he really hated you.”  
“Makes sense.”  
Skorp returned his attention to Scorpia: “So, you and him defected.”  
“And two others: Adora and Catra.” Scorpia said, “We realized what the Horde really was, so we switched sides and began fighting back.”  
Skorp nodded: “I was doing that same thing. I actually attacked a squad of soldiers last night.”  
“We figured,” Makuta said, “One of them crawled into the town this morning.”  
“I STILL missed one? Oh, well.”  
Scorpia made it next to Skorp: “So, will you accept my apology? Are we still friends?”  
The two scorpions stared at each other for a few moments. Finally, Skorp sighed and said: “I guess so.”  
Lighting up, Scorpia hugged Skorp tightly: “I’m still a hugger.” She said.  
“Yeah, no kidding,” Skorp hoarsely said. Once Scorpia let go, Skorp retracted his insectoid legs, combining them until they became normal, mechanical humanoid legs.  
“So, what now?” Waspix asked.  
As if on cue, a scream was heard behind them. The group whipped around to see a Horde spider robot rampaging through the town.  
“Now,” Makuta said, raising his shotgun, “We kick that thing’s ass.”  
“Can’t argue with that.” Skorp said.  
“So, what’s the plan?” Scorpia said.  
“Skorp, you specialize in sneak attack, right?” Makuta said.  
“Yeah, why?” Skorp asked.  
“While the rest of us keep it distracted from here, you can come around and ambush it. We’re bound to find a weakness on it.”  
“I like where you’re going with that.” Skorp said.  
“I’m in.” Scorpia said.  
“Let’s rock!” Waspix yelled.  
“I’ll go help the other people get to safety,” Perfuma said.  
Makuta nodded, and the princess ran off. Then, facing the bot, said: “Let’s go!”  
The group ran towards the bot: Makuta began firing at its head to get its attention.  
“Over here, gear brain!” he shouted. The robot stopped and faced Makuta, unaware that Scorpia and Waspix had moved to either side of it; Skorp was nowhere to be seen. Makuta continued firing his gun, putting multiple holes in the armor until he ran out of ammo. Then, holstering his gun, he bared his claws and ran towards the bot. The robot charged up a laser cannon to fire at him, but before it could, he dove under the bot, raking his claws against the underside and tearing massive gashes in the armor. The bot tried to turn around, but was stopped as Scorpia and Waspix held two of its legs in place.  
“NOW!!” Waspix cried.  
Suddenly, the ground below the bot erupted as Skorp shot out of the ground, driving his claws through the damaged underside and tearing the bot in half. The bot then crashed to the ground, and the people watching the fight began cheering for the heroes. Makuta simply smiled and waved back at the crowd. Then, he looked over at the others. Scorpia and Skorp high fived each other while Waspix flew around in joy. Makuta suddenly had an idea; he walked up to Skorp.  
“Ya, know. I just thought of something.” He said.  
“What is it?” Skorp asked.  
“Recently I’ve been trying to put together a team. One composed of real fighters that don’t really fit in anywhere. I’m calling it the Rogue Squad.”  
“Are we fighting the Horde and other villains?” Skorp asked.  
“Of course.” Makuta asked.  
“Then I’m in.”  
“Count me in too!” Waspix said.  
“Well alright then,” Makuta said, “Catra’s gonna love this. Now, let’s finish hunting those Horde survivors down, because I really need to have a talk with that geek, Entrapta when we get back to Brightmoon.”


	9. Pyroc: Relic of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a visit to the site of a ruined city, Entrapta and Mermista accidentally awaken its sole survivor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few paragraphs are a flashback of sorts. just to give some background.

'Etheria was an amazing world that has lasted for hundreds of years. As such, it is full of history, as well as plenty of mysteries behind them. The most notable of these mysteries is the lost kingdom of Infernia. Long ago, Infernia was a member of the Etherian kingdom alliance; though it had a sort of rivalry with the kingdom of Snows. This was mainly because while Snows was an ice kingdom, Infernia was a fire kingdom. The people there were expert craftsman and had created technology that was arguably the most advanced of all the kingdoms.  
It was a prosperous kingdom, to be sure, but that put it under Horde Prime’s radar and on the top of his hit list. Knowing an attack was coming, Infernia, though reluctantly, sent a call for help to Snows, the closest of the kingdoms; this is where the mystery lies. Snows never responded to the message, and, while it was a brutal battle, Infernia fell to Horde Prime. The kingdom of Snows will deny to ever receiving any such message, though historians all agree that the kingdom did indeed send a message; no one knows for sure what really happened. Few refugees from the kingdom fled and managed to find a living among the other kingdoms, as well as tell of what they knew of the kingdom’s fall.   
That was nearly a hundred years ago, and with the refugees long dead, and the history books only repeating what those refugees had told, it would seem that the mystery of Infernia may never truly be answered, until one day, a group of hikers accidentally stumbled upon a set of old ruins, and, upon closer inspection, archaeologists confirmed that the ruins were indeed what was left of the once proud kingdom. With the discovery now comes an opportunity to solve this mystery once and for all…'  
The ruins, once desolate and quiet, now bustled with the activity of archaeologists and other explorers that were busy excavating what they could of the ancient kingdom. As they were busy, an Etherian transport ship flew in, landing at a safe spot outside the ruined walls. The ship’s exit ramp lowered as princesses Entrapta and Mermista walked out.  
“This is so exciting!” Entrapta said, “An ancient civilization with the most advanced technology of its time; I can’t wait to check this out!”  
“Yeah, whatever,” Mermista said, being her usual mood self. She just casually strolled through while Entrapta practically ran in circles, looking for any tech that might be worthwhile with her high tech scanning goggles that she had created for this particular occasion. As Mermista kept walking, she could sense a lack of water within not just the runs, but the rest of the land as well.  
“How did these people even survive?” she said to herself, knowing that the kingdom was once a fiery kingdom, just as Salineas was once a watery kingdom.  
Just then, Entrapta looked back over at Mermista and yelled: “WAIT!!!”  
Mermista stopped walking: “What is it?”  
Entrapta ran over to a few feet in front of Mermista. Stooping down, she brushed aside piles of dust with her hands. Revealing what seemed to be a type of circular door in the floor itself.  
“It looks like some kind of hidden door.” Entrapta said, “I’m going to try and open it.”  
Reaching into her tool belt with her hair, Entrapta pulled out what looked like a few lock picking tools and began working on the door.  
“Got it!” she yelled after a few minutes as the circular door retracted to the side with a hiss. Entrapta giggled in excitement: “I wonder what’s in here.” She said, diving into the hole. Mermista groaned in frustration; Entrapta just couldn’t restrain herself, could she? Mermista then dived in the hole after the tech princess. She landed softly on the ground as the fall was a lot shorter than she had expected. As she looked around, she appeared to be in a bigger, circular chamber. There were carvings all around the walls of the chamber, depicting a battle of some kind. Turning her attention to the center of the room, she saw Entrapta looking over and scanning what seemed to be a large box of sorts.  
“Princess Mermista! Princess Entrapta!” called one of the archaeologists from above, “Are you okay?”  
“We’re fine!” Mermista called back up.  
“You guys have to come take a look at this!!” Entrapta shouted. Moments later, a rope was let down as one of the archaeologists slid in. He looked around in awe at the scene around him.  
“This must be some kind of hidden tomb.” He said, “And these pictures…”  
“What are they?” Mermista asked.  
The archaeologist studied them for a bit, then said: “If I’m reading these correctly, these depict the Fall of Infernia itself. I can clearly see Horde Prime’s robots here.”  
He continues walking among the depictions, stopping at one that shows a what looked like a knight in a sarcophagus.  
“This is interesting,” he said, “One would think this would mean that the brave warriors fell, but the letters around the sarcophagus say something different.”  
“What do they say?” Mermista asked. Entrapta had walked up behind them as they talked, her curiosity getting the better of her.  
The archaeologist studied the letters, translating hem as he went: “‘He who lies here is our future. The last one sleeps. Speak his name to wake him’.”  
“Well, what is his name?” Mermista asked, “and where is he?”  
“It’s difficult to say,” the archaeologist replied, “It doesn’t say it here, but maybe there’s a clue somewhere around here.”  
“Uhhh, I think that’s him right there.” Entrapta said, pointing to the sarcophagus in the middle of the room.  
“It certainly matches the picture,” The archaeologist said, and he went over to look at it. The same runes were written on the sides, but there was something carved into the top of the lid.  
“I think this is his name.” he said.  
Entrapta looked at the carved letters, using her tech goggles to translate.  
“Fire Knight Pyroc,” she said, “It says Fire Knight Pyroc.”  
Just then a low rumbling was heard, then the sarcophagus began to crack as an orange energy began glowing from within. The three quickly backed away in shock.  
“What did you do?!” Mermista said.  
“I don’t know! I just read what the lid said!” Entrapta yelled.  
“Everyone out!” the archaeologist yelled, and the three immediately went to the rope and began to climb. They had all just gotten out when the sarcophagus exploded, sending debris and dust everywhere. The other explorers crowded around the area, having sensed the explosion themselves.  
“What happened?” one of them asked.  
Entrapta looked down the hole into the tomb: “I think we just woke him up.”  
“Woke who up?”  
Entrapta didn’t answer as she was looking at the figure in the middle of the room. He was covered in black armor and wearing a helmet with three spikes sticking out of the top. The faceplate of the helmet looked as if it had multiple dagger-like plates placed side by side vertically in front of his face; an orange glow emanated from within. In fact, his whole armor had a fiery orange glowing from the black, as if the metal was still ragingly hot. To top it off, a massive war axe, the metal glowing like the armor, was strapped to his back. As Entrapta watched. the figure, obviously Pyroc, slowly stood up and looked around, then looked up at the hole Entrapta was watching him from.  
Entrapta yelped and backed away.  
“Wait!” Pyroc said, “I need to ask you something!”  
Slowly, Entrapta crept back to the hole: “Well, can you come up here first?” she said.  
Pyroc nodded, then said: “You might want to stand back.” Entrapta promptly did so. A few moments later, Pyroc flew out of the hole, propelled by a burst of fire he had summoned, and landed safely on the ground in front of the hole. He looked around to see the explorers beginning to crowd around him, astonished by what they saw. He also saw the rest of the ruins, and it seemed as if the fiery glow diminished a little bit.  
“What…what happened?” he asked: “The battle…I don’t understand.” Mermista walked up: “What’s the last thing you remember?”  
Pyroc shrugged: “All I remember was the fighting. Horde Prime’s machines were battling our warriors. I was with them, but then…I can’t remember anything after that.”  
Mermista and Entrapta’s eyes widened.  
“You were asleep for a hundred years?” Entrapta asked.  
“A hundred years?!” Pyroc said, dread in his voice.  
Mermista put a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him: “You should come with Entrapta and I. We have a LOT to discuss.”  
Pyroc nodded and followed the two princesses back to the ship.  
“Head back to Brightmoon,” Mermista told the pilot. As the ship took off, Mermista and Entrapta sat in the seats across form Pyroc.  
“A lot has happened,” Mermista said, “So I’ll try and fill you in the best I can.”  
“You can start by telling me what happened to my kingdom.” Pyroc said.  
“I’m sorry, but Infernia is gone. Horde Prime destroyed it about a hundred years ago.”  
Pyroc sat back in shock; everything was happening faster than his mind could process. Mermista continued to give a rough summary of the past events, hoping filling him in would help ease his mind a bit more until they reached Brightmoon, where Queen Glimmer and She-Ra could, hopefully, help him better than she or Entrapta ever could…


	10. Pyroc: New World, New Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyroc gains help from She-Ra and the newly formed Rogue Squad to help uncover the answers to his past.

Back at the Brightmoon palace, Glimmer and Adora, in her She-Ra form walked into the meeting room to meet Entrapta and Mermista, who had just returned with Pyroc in tow. As they entered, both were taken aback by the sight of the Fire Knight.  
“Who is that?” Glimmer asked, a bit nervous.  
“His name’s Pyroc,” Entrapta said, “He’s an Infernian that we found at the ruined city.”  
“An Infernian?” She-Ra said, “I thought they were all gone.”  
“We did too,” Entrapta said, “Until we found him in some kind of magical sarcophagus and woke him up. Turns out he had been in that thing for a hundred years.”  
“What on Earth was he doing there?” Glimmer asked.  
“That’s the problem,” Mermista said, “We don’t know and he can’t seem to remember anything past the battle against Horde Prime. Think you can help him out?”  
“I can try,” She-Ra said, and she walked over to Pyroc. Pyroc inched backwards a bit.  
“What are you doing?” he asked.  
“I’m going to try and see if I can read your memory,” she answered, “Maybe see if I can make it resurface. Just relax.”  
Saying this, She-Ra reached out with her hands and touched the sides of Pyroc’s head. Using her magic, she looked into his mind and began seeing if she could go to the most recent memory there, pushing past his awakening and encounter with Mermista and Entrapta. Then, she found something that looked faded, but it was right before his memory of waking up, so it had to be the one. Infusing a bit of healing magic, she flared the memory back to life, seeing it clearly as she did…  
…  
The scene was a massive battle. She-Ra could see Horde Prime’s robots and clones fighting the Infernian soldiers. It was an incredibly intense fight; both Horde soldier and Infernians were being blasted by explosions. Then, the scene changed to a small group of soldiers hiding in a secret, underground room. Two of them were preparing what seemed to be the sarcophagus Entrapta had brought up. Two others were speaking amongst each other; she recognized one of them as Pyroc.  
“I want to go back and fight.” He said.  
“No.” said the other, this one in more regal armor than the others, leading She-Ra to assume he was the king, “We’ve been outmatched. The people are trying to escape the city as we speak, but this is the only way to truly ensure our survival.”  
“But Snows may still come,” Pyroc said.  
“I doubt they would, but even if they are coming, it’s too late now. Horde Prime’s forces are just too great.”  
“I have to help them, then!”  
The Fire King put a hand on Pyroc’s shoulder: “Pyroc, you are the greatest and most loyal of our warriors. You are the only one I trust to do this, but I need you to be willing to do this. You’re the only one who can speak to the people of the future and tell them the truth.”  
Pyroc sighed; there was no changing his mind: “Alright, I’ll do it.”   
The king nodded, and then gave Pyroc a fiery axe.  
“Use this when you wake,” the kings said, “A king’s weapon must never fall into enemy hands, so I entrust it to you.”  
Pyroc nodded, holstering the axe on his back. Then, he went to the sarcophagus and laid down on it.  
“Good luck,” the kings said as the other knights began to close the lid. Once they did, the knights activated the sarcophagus’ magic, putting Pyroc in suspended animation. Here, the memory cut out.  
…  
She-Ra removed her hands from Pyroc’s head as Pyroc stumbled back in shock.  
“I…I remember now,” he said, “The king knew we lost, so he wanted me to be hidden until later so I could reveal the truth of what happened to our people should no other refugees make it.”  
“Well,” Glimmer said, “Some actually did, and we did learn that Infernia fell to Horde Prime, but there was always one thing we never were able to figure out.”  
“Which is?” Pyroc asked.  
“Historians believe that long before Horde Prime’s attack, you sent a message to the Kingdom of Snows, asking for their help.”  
“That we did.”  
“Here’s the weird part. Snows has denied to ever getting such a message multiple times.”  
“Impossible. Our messenger took a secret route that Horde Prime was never able to find; there’s no way he got the messenger before he could reach Snows.”  
“Well, that’s just how it is.” She-Ra said, “There’s not much we can do about it.”  
“Maybe for you,” Pyroc said, “But I can.”  
“What do you mean?” Mermista asked.  
Pyroc sounded determined: “I’m going to Snows myself to figure out what really happened.”  
“Now hold on.” She-Ra said, “You can’t just march into Snows.”  
“Watch me.” Pyroc said.  
“No, she’s right,” Glimmer said, “You can’t go. Not alone at least.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“It’s been a hundred years since you were last around and a lot has changed, including the royalty of the kingdoms. Princess Frosta has no idea who you are, and frankly, that usually means she’ll be a bit more violent towards you. If you want to get an audience with her, you’ll need someone she trusts to go with you.”  
“Who do you have in mind?” Pyroc asked.  
“None of us princesses are available right now,” Mermista said, so that’s out of the question.”  
“What about that new rogue team?” Entrapta said.  
Glimmer though for a moment: “It’s possible. They just returned from a search and destroy mission on Seaworthy.”  
“Are you sure that’s a good idea though?” Mermista asked, “They’re not exactly the most peaceful team when it comes to things like this.”  
“Maybe,” Glimmer said, “But they’ve always gotten the job done so far and I trust them greatly. Plus, no one else is available right now, like you said.”  
Mermista sighed: “This isn’t going to end well…”  
“What is this team you speak of?” Pyroc asked.  
“The Rogue Squad,” Glimmer replied, “They’re one of our most trusted fighting teams. If anyone can get an audience with one of the princesses, it’s them.”  
“I’ll call them up,” She-Ra said.  
A few minutes later, the door to the meeting room opened, revealing Makuta at the front, Catra in her old second in command outfit and hairstyle as well as Skorp were at either side of him, while Waspix hovered above the three.  
“So,” Makuta said, “What’s the mission?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. Catra will have her second in command outfit and hairdo for this story. Your welcome.


	11. Pyroc: All is Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyroc and the Rogue Squad solve the mystery of Infernia's past as they journey to the kingdom of Snows

A few hours later, the transport carrying Pyroc as well as the Rogue Squad arrived at Frosta’s castle. Sure enough, once the guards saw the Rogue Squad approaching, they immediately let them in.  
“Alert the princess,” one of the guards told a servant nearby, who then promptly ran off. The other one offered to escort the team to Frosta’s throne room. As the group followed, Catra noticed that others in the castle were looking at Pyroc in shock, or maybe almost fear. She leaned over to Makuta.  
“This newcomer seems to have a bit of a rep around here.” She said, gesturing to the people she had noticed. Makuta looked around as well, then looked back at Pyroc, then at Catra: “I think it’s because he’s fire-based. That’s not exactly a good combination with ice, which is pretty much everywhere in this kingdom.” He whispered back. Soon they reached the doors to the throne room. The guard turned to the team: “Wait here. I’ll go let Princess Frosta know you are here.”  
Makuta nodded and then the guard went through the door. Makuta then turned back to Pyroc and said, “Okay, listen up. It’s been a long while since you were here, so obviously a new princess is on the throne.”  
“What’s your point?” Pyroc asked impatiently.  
“My point is that she’s a little different than what you would expect so let me do most of the talking, and whatever you do, don’t question her age.”  
“Why would I question her age?”  
Before Makuta could respond, the doors to the throne room opened and the team was let through. Once they were inside, Pyroc saw Frosta and widened his eyes in surprise.  
“Oh, that’s why.” He said, noticing Frosta was far younger than he had expected.  
Frosta smiled as she saw their approach and said: “Hey there, Makuta. Long time no see.”  
“It sure has been,” Makuta replied, “Everything going good?”  
“So far, but since you and your new team is here, I assume that’s about to change.”  
“Maybe. Actually, there’s someone here who needs to speak with you.”  
“Who?”  
Makuta gestured for Pyroc to walk forward, which he promptly did. The servants flanking Frost stepped back in horror; Frosta widened her eyes.  
“Is he…?” she began to ask.  
“An Infernian?” Pyroc said, “Yes, I am.”  
“I thought they were all dead at this point.”  
“Entrapta and Mermista found him in some form of suspended animation in the ruins of Infernia,” Makuta explained, “Glimmer told us to bring him to you as he may have the answers to the mystery that has surrounded both Snows and Infernia.”  
“Well, it’s about time someone figured that out,” Frosta said.  
“The thing is,” Pyroc said, “Is that we did indeed send a call for help to Snows; I watched the messenger leave myself. What I don’t understand is that your kingdom somehow denies ever receiving such a message, so I can either assume you lied and let my kingdom be wiped out, or there’s something else going on that we don’t know of.”  
“Let me guess,” Frosta said, “You need my help.”  
Makuta nodded: “Do you know of any place where old messages or documents go?”  
Frosta thought for a moment: “Well, there is the historical archive. I can take you there if you need to look around. It might not be much, but it’s a start.”  
Pyroc nodded, “Very well.”  
One of Frosta’s advisors leaned over to the princess: “Are you sure that’s a good idea? That archive isn’t…”  
“It’s fine,” Frosta snapped, “Besides, that mystery has put a small taint on our kingdom’s reputation, and if this gets rid of that, than I’m willing to do it. Plus, if Glimmer sent them, than we don’t really have much of a choice.”  
She then got down from her throne and gestured for the team to follow her. She led them down a lift and into a larger room that had walls of ice. To the team’s surprise, there was all kinds of parchments, scrolls, and other documents frozen in the ice.  
“Why is everything in ice?” Waspix asked.  
“It helps preserve the documents in case we need to use the later.” Frosta explained. “Ice preserves things pretty well.”  
“And, what if you need to get one out?”  
Frosta encased a hand in an ice ax: “We bust em out.”  
Skorp rubbed his pincers together in glee: “So, we get to break stuff? Alright then.”  
“Hold on,” Makuta said, “We need to know what exactly we’re looking for first. Pyroc, what would this message look like?”  
“It’s a scroll,” Pyroc said, “It should be in a black case and/or have handles with spikes around them. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”  
Makuta nodded, “Alright, gang, spilt up into pairs and let us know if you find something.”  
The team nodded and went off: Skorp and Waspix, and Makuta and Catra went off, which left Pyroc and Frosta to go on together. As they walked, Pyroc ran his hand against the ice, as if he could feel the scroll.  
“What are you doing?” Frosta asked.  
“The scrolls we used are made of a magical material that radiates a flame that we can sense, which helps us find it should it be lost.” Pyroc explained, “The flame is unquenchable and, supposedly, can last for ages. If it still burs, I should be able to find it in the ice.”  
“Well, that will certainly help.”  
The two continued walking in silence, until Frosta said: “If it’s not too much trouble, I just want to say…I read about your kingdom. What happened to it was terrible, and I just want to say I’m sorry about what happened.”  
Pyroc hesitated, and Frosta became worried that she had said something wrong.  
“Too soon?” she asked.  
Pyroc sighed and continued to search saying, “No, you’re fine. I’m just still getting used to the fact that it’s been nearly a hundred years since that happened, and that I feel Snows had abandoned us, and is now trying to cover it up. However, I sense you’re telling the truth, which means Snows still has some good in it. I…” then he stopped and began feeling around a certain spot: “I sense something.”  
“The scroll?”  
“Could be. Hang on.” Pyroc felt around a bit more, than continued further down the wall. After a few moments, they came to a section of the wall that seemed almost completely empty. Pyroc felt around some more until he stopped at one particular spot.  
“I can feel it strongest here,” he said.  
“This is a reserve area,” Frosta said, “Future documents will go here; we haven’t put anything in this part of the ice yet.”  
“Maybe that’s what they want you think.” Pyroc replied, “We’ll cut in here.”  
Channeling fire through his armor, Pyroc began melting through the ice, following the source of what he was sensing. Frosta shrugged; he knew more about Infernian magic than she did, and she encased he hand in an ice pick to help Pyroc get through. After a few minutes of melting and digging, it seemed as if they were on a wild goose chase as they went incredibly deep into the wall, when suddenly, Pyroc’s hand touched something. Melting the ice trapping it, he pulled back to reveal a scroll in a black casing, spikes ran around the edges of the handles.  
“This is it.” he said. Frosta widened her eyes an amazement.  
“What was that doing in a reserved spot?” Frosta asked.  
“I don’t know. We should tell the others.”  
Frosta nodded and held up a comlink: “Makuta, we found it. We’re in the hall farthest on the right.”  
“On it.” Makuta said on the other end.  
Pyroc opened the scroll and showed it to Frosta: “See for yourself.”  
Frosta took the scroll and looked it over: “It’s definitely a call to help, but from the way you opened the scroll, I’d say it was never even opened before being sent down here.”  
“And it was then hidden away in this spot for a hundred years.”  
“This doesn’t make sense. Who would do such a thing?”  
“Someone who hated your kind.” A woman’s voice behind them said. The two whipped around to see the advisor from earlier who had questioned Frosta’s taking the Rogue Squad to the archives. She now pointed a gun at both of them. A few moments later, a group of other soldiers appeared behind her.  
“There were a few of us here in Snows who saw your kind as too dangerous to even let live, much less make an alliance with,” she said.  
“What do you mean?” Frosta asked.  
“I am part of a secret organization whose goal was to ensure that Infernia was gone, and that they would never join us, as well as keep their deaths a secret. It was bad enough that they had to go and join the Etherian kingdoms, so we needed other options.”  
Pyroc narrowed his eyes as he put the pieces together: “YOU told Horde Prime to attack us.”  
“Well, not us specifically, but our ancestors did a hundred years ago.”  
“But why?” Frosta demanded.  
“Infernia was too dangerous,” the advisor said, “What do you think happens when fire touches ice, or plants? Yeah, we have people in Plumeria too. Fire only causes destruction, so it had to be done away with. How this one,” she said, pointing to Pyroc, “managed to survive is beyond us, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll simply get rid of him, then find a way to erase your memory, Frosta, so that you’ll never know what even happened.”  
Pyroc drew his axe, both the axe and his armor beginning to glow as the fire within them intensified: “You won’t get away with this!”  
“Oh, please,” the advisor said, “I already have some men keeping your other friends busy, so looks like you won’t be getting any backup, sweetie.”  
Suddenly a lion’s roar sounded from behind them, and the advisor whipped around to see the Rouge Squad standing there in ready positions. Her face paled and she stepped back in fear: What? How? Those were some of my best warriors!”  
“Really?” Catra said, “Well, then your men REALLY some more training, cause you’ll have to do a lot better than that to even impress us.”  
Makuta cracked his knuckles: “Let’s get ‘em.”  
“This is where the fun begins,” Skorp said.  
“KILL THEM ALL!!!” the advisor shouted, and the soldier charged.  
“Attack!” Makuta shouted, and the Rogue Squad flew into action. It had only been a few weeks since they first formed, but they were already coordinated enough to be incredibly terrifying when together. As Frosta watched, Skorp was already tossing soldiers aside like ragdolls, with Waspix zapping them out of the air as she flew past them. Makuta was the most terrifying, using his shotgun to blast any enemies far away as well as using his claws, and even his teeth, to cut down any who got too close. Catra ran up to Frosta and Pyroc, somersaulting over the brawl and landing on top of one of the soldiers, knocking him out cold.  
“I can help you get the scroll out of here,” she said, just as a pistol shot from the advisor hit the wall next to her.  
“You’re not taking that thing anywhere,” the advisor said.  
Pyroc stepped in front of Catra and raised his axe, ready to charge the advisor: “You want it? Come get it.”  
The advisor pulled out a sword from the sheath on her hip and both her and Pyroc charged. Their weapons connected, leading to a massive duel with both putting up a good defense and leading up with powerful offensive moves. Seeing them distracted, Catra grabbed a gun from a fallen soldier and ran to Frosta.  
“I’ll cover you. Get the scroll out of here.”  
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Frosta said, taking the scroll. The two began making their way back to the elevator, Catra gunning down any soldier that saw them.  
“Almost there!” Frosta shouted. Then, she made it to the doors and pressed the button to summon the elevator. Catra fired back into the crowd for a few moments, protecting Frosta.  
Meanwhile, it was clear Pyroc was getting the upper hand in the duel against the advisor; not only was he better trained, but he was also stronger and was driven by his anger, unleashing brutal offensive strikes. Finally, he brought his axe down on her sword once more, this time shattering the blade. Then, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her across the floor. Slowly regaining her senses, the advisor looked to see Catra and Frosta at the elevator with the scroll. Narrowing her eyes, she pulled out her pistol again and fired at Catra, hitting her in the shoulder.  
As the bolt hit, Catra shouted in pain, dropping her gun, forcing Frosta to create an ice shield to protect the two of them as the remaining soldiers slowly approached, constantly firing at the shield, which slowly began to break.  
“And so ends the Infernians,” The advisor said with a cruel smirk, only to drop it as a shadow soared over her; her shot on Catra did not go unnoticed, and it angered the lion that Catra’s brother was. With a massive roar, Makuta dove into the soldiers claws bared and he began beating down on them, tossing them aside and clawing the parts of their body left vulnerable by their armor. The remaining soldiers were dispatched in a manner of less than a minute. Then, Makuta turned to the advisor and narrowed his eyes, growling. The advisor’s face paled as she realized her mistake, just as Makuta ran up on all fours and tackled her, pinning her to the ground with his claws and then knocking her out cold with a blow to the head.. Just then, the door to the elevator opened, and Frosta dropped the shield. Skorp helped Catra up and said: “You okay?”  
Catra winced: “Yeah, I’ve taken worse.”  
Makuta walked up, carrying the unconscious advisor over his shoulder: “What do we do with this one?”  
Frosta narrowed her eyes in determination: “Bring her up so my guards can arrest her. It’s time to start righting the wrong this underground syndicate has done.”  
An hour later, the Rogue Squad led Pyroc back to the ship. Before that, Frosta had ordered the advisor to be arrested as well as a search to begin for the rest of the underground syndicate in Snows. She also decreed that the contents of the Infernian scroll were to be made public, as well as the truth behind Infernia and the mystery surrounding its fall. For added measure, the palace medics tended to Catra’s shoulder wound. With their work completed, the Rogue Squad headed back for the transport to take them back to Brightmoon.  
“So, what do you plan to do now, now that you’ve uncovered what really happened to your kingdom.” Skorp sked Pyroc.  
Pyroc shrugged: “Guess I’ll just go where I’m needed, I guess.”  
“You should totally come with us,” Waspix said, “You’d make a great addition to the team.”  
She then heard someone clear their throat and looked to see Catra glaring at them. Waspix turned red under the metal helmet: “Oh, well, if the two co-leaders say so.”  
“He might be a good teammate,” Makuta said.  
Catra nodded: “He certainly wouldn’t fit in with the princesses, or much else for that matter.”  
“So, would you like to join?” Makuta asked.  
Pyroc thought for a moment; he was impressed by how well the team worked together in combat. Besides, Catra was right; with Infernia gone, he didn’t really have anywhere else to fit in. His mind made up, Pyroc looked at Makuta and Catra and nodded.  
“I’m in,” he said.  
“Good,” Makuta said, “Because that was the last empty spot in the team.”  
“Welcome to the Rogue Squad, Pyroc.” Catra said. Pyroc nodded, while Waspix flew excitedly through the air, pumping all four of her fists. Skorp grabbed he by. Her stinger to stop her.  
“Alright, calm down,” he said, “Now, let’s get back on the ship.”  
With that, the fully formed Rogue Squad got onto the transport and headed back to Brightmoon for some much needed rest, unaware of where their next adventure would take them.


	12. Kanan: Change of Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to survive on the surface, a wrongfully exiled Kanan has his fate unexpectedly changed for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we get to the Kipo side of things for the final intro section

Morning in Las Vistas, and all seemed relatively quiet in one of the many abandoned small towns scattered throughout. However, this particular town was not as abandoned as it let on. Hiding in one of the buildings was a young boy, about 14 years old, who was sleeping in one of the rooms on a makeshift hammock. He had dark brown skin that contrasted his spiky, blonde-white hair greatly and wore a jumpsuit that indicated he was from a burrow city; emphasis on the “was”. A few days ago, he was framed for a crime he had no part of, and got exiled from his home. Now living in fear on the surface ever since, his only goal at this point was just to survive. His name was Kanan.  
As the sun shone through the window, as well as the many other cracks in the building, Kanan stirred awake, stretching as he sat up. Opening his eyes, he looked over at a photo he put next to the bed; the only thing he had left from his old home. It was a picture of him as a younger kid with his father, a dark skinned man with black hair and a beard, and his sister, a young girl with light hair, similar to his, but with a sort of purple toned skin, something he never really understood to this day.  
Kanan sighed as he took the photo: “Well, guys, time to try and survive another day.” He said, folding the photo and putting it in his pocket. Walking out of the building he walked to the abandoned vending machine he had broken the window of and had now been using for food. He grabbed a bag of chips and a candy bar and was ready to head back to his shelter when he saw something move from the corner of his eye. Looking at where it went, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to follow.  
The figure moved pretty quickly, but Kanan was luckily able to see it just as it either turned a corner or ducked behind an old car.  
“Hey, come back here!” he said. Finally, the figure stopped and turned around. To Kanan’s surprise, it was a sort of anthropomorphic cat, about only 4 feet tall and wearing a sort of green plaid shirt.  
“Oh,” Kanan said, “Sorry if I scared you. I just saw you run by and was curious.”  
The cat stared at him for a few moments.  
“You can’t understand me, can you?” Kana said.  
“No I can,” the cat said, startling Kanan.  
“Ah! You can talk!” he said.  
The cat smirked: “You scared me, and now I scared you. Looks like we’re even.”  
“What are you?”  
“I’m a timbercat, and YOU must be a human.”  
Kanan nodded: “Yeah. You’re not gonna hurt me, are you?”  
“Nah, you seem pretty harmless. I’m Bunyan, by the way.”  
“I’m Kanan.”  
The two shook hands.  
“So, tell me,” Bunyan said, “What’s a human like you doing on the surface, and all alone too?”  
“Well,” Kanan said, “I used to be from a burrow, but I was banished.”  
“Banished?! What for?”  
“Nothing. I got framed for something I didn’t do, but no one listened to me, so here I am.”  
Bunyan cringed: “Yikes. That sucks. So, how long have you been out here?”  
“A few days at most.” Kanan replied.  
Bunyan thought for a moment, then said: “Tell you what, come with me. I think my friends can help.”  
“The timbercats?”  
“Not all of them, there are a few other mutes as well. Even some humans.”  
“There are?”  
“Oh, yeah. I can take you to them if you want. So, you wanna come?”  
Kanan thought for a few moments, then nodded: “It certainly would be better to be with others than trying to survive on my own like I’ve been doing.”  
“Good,” Bunyan said, “Come with me then.”  
Suddenly, the two heard a rumbling sound, like heavy footsteps. Turning around, they saw a giant two faced pigeon had wandered nearby, and it now saw them.  
“What is that?!” Kanan asked.  
“Beak-Beak!” Bunyan said, “We need cover. Follow me!”  
The two ran into a building through a hole in its wall, then they ducked out of sight of the window so the mute wouldn’t see them.  
“I think we lost it.” Kanan said.  
“Don’t get confident just yet, kid,” Bunyan said, “Beak-Beaks are annoyingly persistent sometimes.”  
As if on que, the ceiling began to shake and crack; the mute was breaking in through the roof. Within a few seconds, a hole was made in the roof and a feathery head poked its way through. Kanan backed away as far as he could, but Bunyan wasn’t letting this mute get away without a scratch. Jumping from his hiding place, he pulled out an axe and threw it at the creature’s head. The resulting pain as the axe hit caused the Beak-Beak to pull its head out briefly as it cried out in pain. Glaring back down, it drove its head back into the hole, right in front of Kanan. Instinctively, Kanan punched at the creature’s face, unaware that his skin had turned black and scaly as he swung, The resulting punch stunned the creature as it was far harder of a hit than it had anticipated. Seizing the opportunity, Kanan ran to Bunyan.  
“Good, thinking, kid,” Bunyan said, then noticed Kanan’s arm and let out a meow of fright: “WOAH!”  
“What?” Kanan said.  
Bunyan slowly pointed to Kanan’s arm. Kanan looked to his scaly arm and cried out in terror: “AH! WHY IS MY ARM ALL SCALY??!!”  
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.” Bunyan said.  
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU’RE NOT SURE?!”  
Suddenly, a screech interrupted them as the saw the Beak-Beak had recovered and raised its head and prepared for another attack. Then suddenly, explosions could be heard as the creature became pelted by missiles and blasted by a minigun, both of which belonging to a large hovercraft that appeared. Annoyed and in pain, the mute was forced to fly off in an attempt to survive.  
Hearing the explosions, Kanan and Bunyan slowly walked outside, cautious that the mute was still around. Once outside, they saw the hovercraft land, and Bunyan broke out in a smile.  
“Well, they certainly got here faster than I thought.” He said.  
“Those are your friends?” Kana asked.  
“Yes, they are. Come on, I’ll take you to meet em.”  
As they walked closer to the ship, the back hatch opened as a large humanoid, lizard mute walked out, dressed in some kind of high tech armor and carrying a heavy cannon on his shoulder. He saw Bunyan approaching, then noticed Kanan.  
“Who did you bring with you THIS time?” the lizard asked.  
“This is Kanan, Slitherus,” Bunyan replied, “And it wouldn’t kill you to show some sympathy once in a while; this guy’s been unlawfully banished from his burrow.”  
“He has?” a girl’s voice said, and a young woman, about 16, with light skin and dark hair walked out, wearing similar tech armor. She looked him over and said: “What’s your name?”  
“Kanan,” Kanan replied.  
The girl nodded: “I’m Tris, you’ve met Slitherus Grumpypants.”  
Slitherus hissed at Tris: “How many times must you call me that insulting name?!”  
“I will when YOU start being a little nicer to new people.” Then, turning to Kanan: “Now, come on, I’m sure our burrow will accept you.”  
“You live in a burrow too?” Kanan asked.  
“Yeah, but it’s not like the one you’d expect. It’s a little more exciting. You comin?”  
Kanan didn’t need to think this time; life in a different burrow with other strangers was better than trying to survive up here on the surface.  
“I’m in. What do I need to do?”  
“For starters, you can come with us on the ship so we can take you back to our burrow.”  
“Right,” Kanan said, running onto the ramp of the ship. Bunyan followed behind, but as he passed Tris, he tapped her leg, motioning for her to lean down so he could whisper something in her ear.  
Once she did, the timbercat whispered: “Something weird happened when we were being attacked by that mute. I think he’s a Hybrid.” He said pointing to Kanan’s scaly arm.  
Tris’s eyes widened: “You’re sure, Bunyan?”  
“Positive. I don’t know what kind, but I know he’s a Hybrid for sure. Some kind of reptilian by the looks of it.”  
“Well, then it’s a good thing we found him first and not Scarlemagne or, God forbid, Emilia.”  
Bunyan shuddered: “Agreed. We should test him, just to make sure.”  
“One step at a time, Bunyan. Let’s just get him back to base first.” Tris said.  
“Right.” Bunyan said, and then the two entered the ship, where they saw Slitherus was trying to show Kanan how to strap himself in and not doing a very good job.  
Tris pushed the lizard aside: “I’ll handle this.” She said, and helped Kanan finish getting strapped in.  
“Thanks.” Kanan said.  
Tris winked: “Don’t mention it. Now hang on, it’s a bit of a bumpy ride.”  
Sure enough. The ship began to shudder as its engines roared to life, forcing a terrified Kanan to grab onto the armrests for dear life. A few moments later, the hovercraft took off back towards the burrow it came from.


	13. Kanan: Cyber City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanan is introduced to the hi-tech burrow of Cyber City.

A couple hours later, the hovercraft reached the burrow, lowering itself down through a hole in the roof of the hangar. It was only when the craft fully landed that Kanan let go of the armrests.  
“That…was…crazy.” He said.  
Tris chuckled: “Don’t worry we were all like that at first. Flying is a very much rediscovered technology for those outside of our burrow. Now come on, I gotta show you to Commander.”  
Helping him unbuckle the straps, Tris led Kanan down the ramp into the hangar, and Kanan’s jaw dropped in awe. This burrow was already nothing like he had ever seen. Hovercraft lined the floor of the hangar. As they kept walking, Kanan suddenly stopped as a large robotic suit walked by, carrying a few heavy loads of ammo.  
“I had no idea technology like this still existed,” Kanan said.  
“In most other parts of the world, it doesn’t,” Tris agreed, “But we’ve managed to salvage enough, modify it, and stay ahead of the game in the technology industry.”  
“Amazing.”  
“You should see the city itself.”  
They then took an elevator out of the hangar and down into the city itself, and as the doors opened, Kanan gazed out into the most technologically advanced burrow city he had ever seen.  
“Woah…” he said.  
“Yup,” Tris said, “Welcome to Cyber City.”  
…  
As they walked through the city, Kanan marveled at the technology the people possessed: all kinds of robotics and machines he had only read about were everywhere. Then, he saw something else; it was a group of people and mutes working on lifting a sign up. Suddenly, one of the people turned into some kind of bird and lifted the sign, flying up to where the sign was going to, where a rat mute hammered it in place.  
“Uhhh, he just turned into a bird.” Kana said.  
Tris nodded, “Some people are like that. We call them Hybrids, humans with the ability to take on mute-like features. Granted, not many exist, but the majority of them live here.”  
Kanan looked down at his now scaly, clawed hand and asked, “You think I might be a Hybrid?”  
“I’m pretty sure. Bunyan pointed out your hand and explained everything, and all the signs point to you being one. What kind, however, is what I’m not quite sure about.”  
“Kind?”  
“Not all Hybrids are alike. They’re all powerful in their own ways, but it’s so diverse that we decided to use the hurricane category system to rank them all. Most of the ones here are category’s 1 or 2 because they’re not too dangerous.”  
“Any category 5’s?”  
Tris shuddered: “No, thank goodness. I haven’t seen anyone above category 3 to be honest.”  
“But you must have some way to handle a Cat. 5 should it show up.”  
“We do. Extreme safety protocols were set up, but I don’t want to get into too much detail there.”  
“Look sharp you two,” Slitherus said, “We’re here.”  
“Where?” Kana asked.  
“The Commander’s headquarters. If there’s anyone here who knows how to help you, it’s the Commander.” Tris said.  
“Is he friendly?”  
“Moderately. If I’m being honest, there are times when she can get a little harsh, but it’s nothing too major. Relax, Kanan, you’ll be fine.”  
After speaking with the guards at the door, Tris and Slitherus led Kanan down a hallway and into a larger room where a massive table, projecting a holographic image of a jungle, sat in the middle, a group of people surrounding it and talking amongst each other. One of them, a taller woman with black hair looked up and noticed Tris and Kanan entering.  
“Hello, Tris. Back already, I see.” She said.  
Tris nodded: “And we found someone too,” she said, gesturing to Kanan, “This is Kanan. We found him in one of the abandoned towns in sector 5.”  
“What the heck was he doing out there?” one of the other officers asked.  
“I was exiled from my burrow,” Kanan explained, “I was framed for something I didn’t do, but no one listened. So I’ve been living there, just trying to survive.”  
“Ouch, that’s a bummer, dude.” Another officer said.  
“What’s more is that THIS recently happened.” Kanan continued, holding up his scaly hand for them to see. The Commander’s eyes widened: “You’re a Hybrid?”  
Kanan nodded: “Apparently so. Tris said you might be able to help me with this.”  
“I can. My daughter is right about most things concerning Hybrids.”  
“Wait, your WHAT?”  
Tris facepalmed: “Really, Mom? You have to say it here?”  
The Commander shrugged: “I see no harm in it. Now, Kanan, you are welcome to stay with us in Cyber City; I always believe in a second chance. I’m also sure we will be able to help you control your Hybrid powers. If I’m not mistaken, I’d say they’re just starting to surface, so we have time to get them under control before anything too extreme pops up.”  
Suddenly, something on the table began beeping as a red dot appeared on a part of the jungle.  
“We got Scarlemagne activity, Sector 7.” On officer said.  
The Commander turned her attention to the board: “Do we have any squads that can get there in time?”  
“6th squad is the closest one.”  
Kana leaned over to Tris as the officers talked: “Who’s Scarlemagne?”  
“A mute whose been a bit of a tyrant lately,” Tris said, “He’s bent on conquering all of Las Vistas; we’ve been the only thing keeping him from expanding his borders.”  
“Can’t you just attack him where he is and be done with it?”  
“It’s not that simple. We’re supposed to be the symbol of peace between humans and mutes. Plus, if we showed ourselves in full force, there’s no telling what kind of tech the Scarlemagne can get his hands on, not to mention Dr. Emilia.”  
“Who?”  
“A crazy scientist bent on killing all the mutes. We haven’t been seeing much of her lately, to be honest.”  
“This is already hurting my brain.”  
“I know how that feels. We should go get you set up. I know just the thing for you. But first, let’s see what kind of mute exactly you are.”  
…  
Taking a trip to the city’s mute laboratory, tris had Kanan’s DNA tested for mute genes, which obviously came back positive, but it was the first step in how to find out what kind of mute exactly he was. After a few more tests, the scientists concluded that it was some form of dinosaurian creature; one they had never seen before. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make Kanan feel somewhat relieved. Next, Tris and the two mutes took him to the armory, where they looked for a suitable outfit and weapon for him.  
“If you want to live here, you gotta know how to fight.” Bunyan said. About 30 minutes, and around 15 outfit changes later, Kanan decided on a black suit of tech armor with a helmet that looked like some kind of darkened dome.  
“That is one of our stealth based armors,” Tris said, “Hit that button on your left arm.”  
Kanan did, and immediately, the suit began shimmering, becoming practically invisible.  
“Okay…now THAT’S cool!” Kana said, de-cloaking.  
“And now, for the weapon,” Slitherus said, a hint of pleasure in his voice; if there was one thing the lizard mute enjoyed, it was weapons. It was difficult finding a proper match for Kanan, as most of the weapons were either too heavy or too clumsy, but they eventually decided on a standard hunting rifle with a laser scope and an automatic pistol to start him off. After that, Tris led him to a series of surprisingly large apartments, much like the ones he lived in in his old burrow.  
“I talked with Commander when you were trying on outfits. She says you’ll be staying in one of these,” she explained, “We’ll start your training and see if we can get you on a squad tomorrow.”  
“A squad?” Kanan asked.  
“Hybrids with powers like yours are practically built for combat. The Commander thinks this may be a good opportunity for you to help fight back against both Scarlemagne and Emilia. You’ll be protecting all the good people still out there in the other burrows.”  
Immediately, Kanan thought of his dad and his sister; they had lost their mother when Kanan was very young. He decided he was not going to lose anyone else, and idea came to his mind.  
“I appreciate it,” he said, “But I would much rather go it alone.”  
“Alone?” Tris said, “You sure?”  
“I’ve been independent for most of my life. Besides, I have this crazy stealth suit now.”  
“In his defense,” Slitherus said, “there are a few solo operatives in the field.”  
Tris thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll talk to the Commander about this, but I don’t see any trouble in it.”  
“Well, it’s something,” Kanan said, “Also, why do you refer to her as the Commander and not your mom?”  
“It’s not something I’m comfortable with putting out in the open, okay?”  
Kanan put his hands up apologetically: “Okay, sorry.”  
Tris calmed down: “Your apartment is the one with this number on it,” she said, holding out a card holder with a number on the front to him. Taking it, Kanan thanked Tris and climbed the stairs to the apartment. Walking inside, he saw the apartment was decently furnished, even having a rack on the wall in the bedroom to hang up his guns, which he promptly did. Sitting down on the bed, he sighed as he went through all the crazy events that had happened in just that one day; he met new friends, almost got killed by a Beak-Beak, learned he was part dinosaur, and is now living in the most technologically advanced burrow/freedom fighter force he had ever seen.  
This was certainly a lot to think about, but then again, his luck had turned for the better as well; he didn’t have to try and survive anymore. Now, since he might be going on solo missions in with all this new gear, he also realized he may still be reunited with his family, which also warmed his heart. Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see a guitar propped on the wall in the corner, and lit up in a smile; his family always was big on music. Picking up the guitar, he played a few notes his dad had taught him. He soon realized he was tearing up as the memories came flooding into his mind about his old life; how he played these same songs with his dad, or when he played calmer music to help his baby sister sleep.  
He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. I’ll see them again, he thought, I hope. Putting the guitar down after a few songs, he laid back on his bed and closed his eyes; he had a big day tomorrow and he knew he was going to need all the rest he could get.


	14. Kanan: Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As he adjusts to his new life, Kanan encounters a close someone from his past.

In the 3 years following his arrival to Cyber City, Kanan went through vigorous training in both his physical prowess as well as his proficiency in guns. The gun training easily went smoother than all other training, and it was soon decided that Kanan actually would make a good stealth fighter, so the Commander allowed him to run solo missions on the surface. Not wanting to reveal himself fully to the outside, Kanan went under the codename of Hunter, not only because of his skill set, but also because his zodiac sign was Orion the Hunter, so he thought it would be fitting. Once he stepped back out into the surface, it was many days or even weeks before he returned, but he always got the job done, so the Commander decided not to question it.  
The name of the Hunter quickly spread through Las Vistas; tales of a shadow, hiding in plain sight, and striking those unlucky enough to be in range. Scarlemagne took a personal interest in him after learning that he had wiped out an entire flock of flamingo riders. However, it didn’t end there for Kanan as the mute part of him began to surface more, enhancing his strength and speed dramatically. Physical features also appeared bit by bit: first sharpened teeth, than scales like freckles on his face, Kanan even grew a tail. Tris and the others did what they could, helping him control his mute abilities, and it actually began to work; they had started training early enough that the mute power was more able to be easily controlled. Soon, he could summon different parts of the mute traits at will, but he decided to keep the eyes, freckles, and teeth on more often.  
With all his new powers, Kanan didn’t feel quite as helpless as he once did when he was banished. Now, he felt ready to handle anything thrown at him, but nothing could prepare him for the encounter he would soon have. It happened while he was out on the surface, relaxing in a tree. Just then, he got a call through the radio in his helmet  
“Hunter. Hunter, do you copy?” said the voice from the other end.  
“I’m here. What’s up?” Kanan said.  
“We just picked up more activity near where you are.”  
“Scarlemagne?”  
“Obviously. We picked up s group of flamingos chasing down what appears to be a few humans, along with something else. We’re not sure, but from the readings, it could be another Hybrid. You’re the closest one, so we need you to check it out.”  
“How far away?”  
Just then, he heard a screech, and looked to see two flamingos in the distance; it did seem like they were chasing something.  
“Nevermind, I see em,” Kanan said, loading his rifle and turning invisible. Running through the treetops, he came to where he saw the flamingos circling overhead. They were circling above a clearing where three figures were standing in a defensive circle; a boy with a bug mute insect in his backpack, a kid in a wolf skin (which Kanan found interesting), and an older girl with white har and light purple skin; she was obviously the Hybrid as her arms had morphed into large jaguar arms.  
Wait a minute. Purple skin? Kanan thought to himself, Could it be? Sure enough, as he got a closer look, he recognized the jaguar girl; it was his sister, Kipo, and she and her friends were about to be attacked by a flock of flamingos. Kanan saved his joy for later and focused on the problem.  
“Not on my watch, you don’t.” Kanan said, raising his rifle. Aiming at one of the flamingos, he fired a shot into one of its heads, sending it crashing down, then proceeding to do so with a few other flamingos. Their riders, recovering from the crash, stood up and looked around.  
“Uhhhhh, what just happened?” the bug mute asked.  
“I don’t know,” the boy carrying him said.  
“I’ve never seen flamingos just fall out of the sky like that.” The wolf girl said.  
Suddenly, one of the monkeys got picked up by some invisible force and thrown like a ragdoll across the clearing. The other monkeys turned in fright as Kanan materialized where the monkey had been thrown from. Retracting his helmet, he cracked his knuckles, bringing out the scaly freckles on his cheeks as well as claws on his hands, the reptilian eyes, and the tail. The monkeys stood back in horror while the three humans stared in shock.  
“You’re like me?” the jaguar girl said.  
Kanan nodded: “And it’s good to see you again, Kipo. It’s been, what, three years?”  
Kipo narrowed her eyes, then widened them in recognition after a few seconds.  
“Kanan…?” she said.  
Kanan nodded: “Hey, sis.”  
“Wait, WHAT!?” the other three said.  
“Kipo, you never told me you had a brother!” the boy said.  
“Well, I honestly thought he was dead!” Kipo said.  
“Can we please talk about this later?” the girl with the wolf cloak said, “We still have monkeys to handle.”  
Kanan looked around at the surrounding monkeys, who were all standing back in fear with whispers of: “Hunter! It’s the Hunter!”  
“Judging by the way they’re all standing back, terrified,” Kanan said, “This should be a piece of cake.”  
Kipo raised her jaguar arms: “Let’s bust some heads!”  
With that, Kanan and Kipo charged the monkeys, knocking them aside as they tried to flee. Soon, the few monkeys that had dodged the attacks ran off into the jungle.  
“We beat ‘em!” Kipo said, pumping her fist.  
“Oh, yeah, we did.” Kanan said, high-fiving his sister.  
“So, you’re half mute too?” Kipo asked.  
“I am. What kind? I don’t know, but I know it’s some kind of dinosaurian creature.” Kanan replied.  
“That’s really cool.”  
“Um, hello!” the wolf girl said, “Can we please get back to the part where you had a brother and never told us?”  
“Who are these guys?” Kanan asked.  
“My new friends. There’s Wolf, Benson, and the mute is Dave.”  
“How ya doin?” Dave said.  
Kipo then said, “Guys, the reason I never told you was because he was banished from my burrow three years ago; long enough for me to assume he was dead. It was a pretty rough topic to talk about.”  
“Fair enough, I guess,” Wolf said. Then, turning to Kanan, “So, you’ve survived for three years on the surface, huh?”  
“More or less,” Kana replied, “I had help, though. That’s how I got this tech.”  
“That is some pretty cool tech,” Kipo said.  
“So, what are you guys doing?” Kanan asked.  
“Well, it’s kind of a long story,” Kipo continued, “basically, Scarlemagne attacked our burrow, I just discovered my half-mute powers, and now we’re chasing after Scarlemagne because he has our dad and everyone else from the burrow.”  
Kanan cringed: “That bad, huh? I wonder how I didn’t see that sooner.”  
“If you want to come along, we could use all the help we can.” Kipo said.  
“Woah, hold it, Kipo,” Wolf said, “Do you really trust him?”  
“I’m fine with it as long as he doesn’t tear us apart,” Benson said, “those claws are making me nervous.”  
“Agreed,” said Dave.  
“Guys, he’s my brother,” Kipo said, “I know we’ve been separated for a long time, but I know him well enough. We can trust him.”  
Wolf and Kipo stared each other down for a few moments, but it was obvious Kipo won when Wolf groaned in frustration.  
“Fine,” she said, “but Benson’s right; I don’t want this guy tearing my face off.”  
“Relax, I won’t do any such thing.” Kana said, patting Wolf on the shoulder. Wolf suddenly whipped her staff up, hitting Kanan in the face.  
“OW!” Kanan shouted.  
“Don’t touch me!” Wolf said, “Now let’s keep moving.”  
As Wolf walked off, Kanan leaned over to Kipo, asking: “Is she always this grumpy?”  
“Pretty much,” Kipo said. Then, hugging Kanan, “I’m glad you’re back.”  
Kanan hugged back: “Me too.”  
“Hey!” Wolf called, “You two gonna keep hugging it out, or are you coming?”  
Kipo pulled away: “Right. We should get going.”  
Kanan nodded: “Let’s roll.”  
With that, the new group ran off after Scarlemagne, two of them happy as ever to be reunited once again.


	15. The Visionary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new problem arises with the appearance of a mysterious figure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the beginning of the main story. I thank you for your patience if you made it this far. Also, there is a slight Jurassic World crossover with Kanan's mute form.

In the years following his reunion with Kipo, Kanan would also reunite with his parents in a very heartwarming family reunion. Alongside his new friends, he would help defeat both Scarlemagne and Emilia, but it was with Emilia that his true mute form was revealed to be a massive black dinosaur that was powerful enough to stand toe to toe with Kipo’s jaguar form. Its species didn’t register on any scientific records. However, a similar creature was seen in the movies of the past, so the scientists of Cyber City named it after that particular creature: the Indoraptor. It was so powerful and deadly, the scientists ended up naming it the first Category 5 Hybrid, while Kipo and her mother, Song, were Category 4’s.   
Once Emilia was gone, the people of Cyber City decided to move to the surface, rebuilding and repopulating one of the old cities, deeming it New Cyber City. It took a few years before it became livable, but Kanan and his family were invited to live there, and Kipo even decided to help with construction, using her jaguar strength to do some of the heavy lifting alongside the mechs and other Hybrids. Kanan and Wolf helped with guarding the vulnerable parts of the city, pushing back any hostile mutes or any surviving loyalists of Dr. Emilia. Kanan and Kipo’s parents also were invited into the scientific community of New Cyber City after the Commander saw how skilled in science they were. For a time, it seemed that a new era of peace was on the horizon, but nothing could have prepared them for what was about to happen…  
…  
In another part of Earth, on the outskirts of Las Vistas, was a hidden campsite that housed two humans and a lizardman: Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. After the three left the Fright Zone, they were able to steal a ship and get off planet. They found Earth by sheer accident after Kyle “accidentally” messed with the nav computer, sending the ship through warp speed and crashing into Earth. After having yet another yelling fit at Kyle, Lonnie was able to collect whatever was still salvageable, with Rogelio’s help, and create a makeshift campsite from the ship. They had been there for the past month and were actually surviving quite fine, but it was becoming depressing. They felt like they didn’t really have much of a purpose anymore, though they were happy to be gone from the Fright Zone.  
One particular night, the three sat around a campfire outside of the ship, and they all had the same thing in mind.  
“We gotta get out of here,” Kyle finally said.  
Rogelio grunted in agreement. Lonnie scoffed and said: “We would have a long time ago if you hadn’t crashed our ship, Kyle.”  
“I said I was sorry!” Kyle protested.  
“Whatever,” Lonnie said, “I don’t care where we go. I just want to actually DO something. All we’ve been doing here is surviving and chasing off these weird talking animals when they get too close. There’s gotta be SOMETHING out there for us.”  
“Well, maybe we would have found it by now, but YOU kept insisting on staying close to the camp.” Kyle pointed out. Lonnie growled in frustration; in this one rare moment, Kyle actually had a point.  
“Perhaps I can help,” said a voice. The three turned to see a cloaked figure walk up to them.  
“You seem like you’ve lost your purpose,” he said, “I can help you find a new one.”  
Lonnie raised her shock prod: “Who are you?”  
“You could say I’m a visionary of sorts. And my vision involves me conquering world after world, ending with Etheria, which I’m sure you’re familiar with, judging by your Horde outfits.”  
“You’re Horde?”  
The figure laughed: “And be allied with the maniacal moron that Horde Prime was? No.”  
“He WAS pretty powerful.” Kyle said.  
“Ha! He was a fool that was too overly confident in himself, and it destroyed him in the end. I am not like him.”  
“What do you want from us?” Lonnie demanded.  
“Simple. I want you three to join me in my conquest. I’m sure there’s something you desire that I can give you.”  
The three looked at each other in silence; this offer certainly was better than doing nothing. Plus, he offered them something they wanted, so it seemed like a pretty good deal. Lonnie lowered he shock prod.  
“Okay then,” she said, “How do you plan on conquering this planet. It’s just the four of us.”  
“Not to worry” the figure said, “We won’t be the only ones.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“If you want to truly conquer a planet, you need to break it from within.”  
Here, he holds out a dark blue, armored hand, conjuring an energy sphere. As the three looked into it, they could see the form of a purple jaguar.  
“And I…” the figure said, the light of the sphere showing the outline of his face under the hood; a skull face.  
“…know just the one to do it.” he finished, chuckling evilly to himself.  
…  
A few days later, back in new Cyber City, Kanan was called into Command center, and it seemed urgent. He ran into the control room, where Tris, the Commander, and Song were waiting for him.  
“What’s going on?” he asked.  
“It’s Kipo.” Tris said, “We’re not sure what exactly happened. All we know from witnesses is that she went crazy, turned into a jaguar, and took off into the jungle.”  
“Can we track her?”  
“We already are,” the Commander said, gesturing to the holo table. It depicted a bird’s eye view of the jungle, a red blinking dot moving through it.  
“Where’s she going?”  
“We don’t know. I was going to have you and Song go follow her and possibly bring her back. You’re the only ones who can keep up with her.”  
“That’s true enough, I guess. So, when do you need us to leave.”  
“As soon as you can. Hurry, we can’t lose her.”  
Kanan nodded, the turned to Song: “You ready, Mom?”  
Song nodded: “Let’s go.”  
A few minutes later, Kanan, in Indoraptor form, was running through the jungle. Song was on his back, holding a tracker that was locked onto Kipo’s signal. They were closing in fast; the jaguar was fast, but it was nothing compared to the natural speed of the Indoraptor combined with Kanan’s physical training.  
“There!” Song called, and Kanan looked to the side to see Kipo in jaguar form, running through the trees next to them. Kanan pulled ahead of her and turned through the trees, bursting out of them and stopping in front of Kipo. The jaguar stopped in its tracks when it saw the Indo stop in front of him. Song got off of his back and slowly approached Kipo.  
“Kipo,” she said, “What’s going on? What’s gotten into you?”  
The jaguar snarled back, and Song backed up a bit in surprise. Then she saw Kipo’s eyes. They were a darker purple than normal, and didn’t have any pupils; they almost seemed to be glowing. Song immediately realized something was wrong, and Kanan saw it too.  
“Kipo…your eyes.” Song said, “Are you okay?”  
The jaguar responded by swatting Song into a tree with its paw. Kanan immediately responded by running up, tail whipping Kipo, then going over to Song and helping her up. Song groaned in pain as she stood up.  
“Thanks, Kanan.” She said, “I’ll be okay.”  
As the two looked over to where Kipo was, they saw that she was gone.  
“Dang it!” Kanan yelled, reverting to his human form.  
“We have to keep going,” Song said.  
“No way. You’re in no condition to keep going after taking a hit like that. We have to go back; we’re gonna need a lot more help with this.”  
Song attempted to take a step forward, but buckled under the pain that shot through her leg; apparently Kipo had broken it.  
“Maybe you’re right.” She finally said, “Let’s go.”  
…  
When they got back, Song was taken to the medical center where her wounds would be taken care of, while Kanan went to report what had happened to Command. When he had finished his report, the Commander pursed her lips.  
“What do we do?” Kanan said, “There’s no telling who or what else Kipo might destroy, and we don’t have the firepower to stop her; most of our resources are being directed to reconstruction.”  
The Commander thought for a long while; this was more serious than she had expected.  
“We’re in no condition to handle something like this. You’re right about that.” She said, “I think we should send a call for aid out. If there’s anyone else out there, they’ll respond.”  
“Are you sure about that?” Tris asked, “We don’t even know if anyone else is out there.”  
“We don’t have much choice,” the Commander responded, “We’ll need to use maximum power in the com tower to make sure the signal gets out.”  
A while later, the Commander was in the communication room, giving the exact orders to the com controllers there on sending the message. Tris walked up to her.  
“Mom,” she said, “I know the real reason you’re sending this message out the way you are. Do you really think they’ll listen?”  
“I can only hope they do, Tris.” The Commander replied, “It’s been a long time since I was last in touch with them. For all I know, they’re still fighting their own war. Let’s hope they can spare someone to help us.”  
Tris pursed her lips; if someone did receive the call and arrived, there was no telling what kind of destruction the attempts to take down the purple jaguar, Kipo, would bring…


	16. The Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a mysterious message reaches Brightmoon, the Rogue Squad heads off to investigate.

Inside Brightmoon castle, an intense face off was going on. The Rogue Squad had challenged the Princess Alliance to a challenge of who was better, which was now being decided through the most intense round of Bow’s figurine game they had ever played. Right now, it was down to Makuta, Catra, and Pyroc vs Frosta, Adora, and Netossa. Both teams watched each other intently from both sides of the table while their teammates watched tensely from the sides.  
Makuta moves his figure towards Netossa and declares: “I attack with my dual swords.”  
“I block with my nets.” Netossa shot back.  
Bow rolled a pair of dice and looked at the numbers: “Makuta’s swords go through the holes in the net and hit Netossa in the chest. She’s at 5 HP now.”  
Netossa slammed the table in frustration; it was bad enough she suffered damage at the pincers and sneak attacks of Skorp and Waspix, but Makuta was becoming too unpredictable for even her.  
Frosta chimed in next: “Winter’s Bane uses Ice Storm on Pyroc!”  
“I melt through the ice and cut her down with my fire axe.” Pyroc responds.  
Bow rolls the dice again: “Pyroc melts through, but suffers 4 damage from an icicle. The axe does 7 damage to Frosta though.”  
The fire knight and ice princess glare at each other; the two had become friends, but were also both known for their very wide competitive streak.  
Suddenly, the doors to the room flew open as Entrapta burst in.  
“GUYS!!!” she yelled, “CHECK THIS OUT!”  
“What is it?” Glimmer asked.  
Entrapta slammed her trackerpad on the table in her excitement: “So, I was adjusting my little radars, right? All of a sudden, I kept picking up this signal that was coming from a different planet of some kind. I just HAD to come show you guys!”  
“What does the message say?” Adora asked, naturally curious.  
“Well,” Entrapta replied, “If I’m reading this right, it looks like a distress signal of some kind.”  
“A distress signal?” Makuta perked up, “From where?”  
“Still working on it” Entrapta replied, “I just recently picked the message up, so I still need a few moments to get full details.”  
“If it’s a distress signal” Waspix chimed in, “Than we need to follow it. Someone could be in trouble.”  
“Or it could be a trap.” Skorp replied, “There are still Horde loyalists out there.”  
“He’s got a point” Netossa chimed in.  
“Well, we don’t know that for sure” Adora argued, “I say it’s worth looking into.”  
Just then, she noticed Makuta and Catra whispering between each other.  
“Alright, what’s going on, you two?” Glimmer asked, having also noticed.  
Makuta turned back to face the others: “Catra and I can take our team and go check it out. We may be a newer team, but we’re tough nonetheless.”  
“Knowing you two by now, I believe that.” Adora replied.  
“Well, I mean, it would just have to be them” Mermista pointed out, “We still have to do our princess stuff here.”  
“I don’t have a problem with that.” Makuta replied, “We’ve handled things on our own before, and with Horde survivors going silent for the past few months, I think we can spare a little venture into space.”  
“Well, if you insist” Glimmer said, “I’m sure Entrapta will want to go with you since this is a new planet, as she says.”  
Entrapta started bouncing with excitement in the corner.  
“I’m fine with that” Catra replied, “So long as she doesn’t get in the way too much.”  
“Agreed” the other Rogues replied in unison.  
“Very well then” Glimmer said, “Take what you need. You guys should probably get going soon though, just in case.”  
Makuta nodded, then stood up and looked at Netossa: “We’ll settle this later.”  
Netossa grinned back: “I look forward to that.”  
“So, does this mean I can come?!” Entrapta asked.  
“I guess so.” Makuta replied, causing Entrapta to squeal with joy: “I’ll go fire up Darla!!”  
Entrapta took off like a shot out of the room. Meanwhile, Makuta looked around to the rest of his team: “Alright, Rogues. Let’s move out.”  
Waspix pumped her fists: “Alright, some action!”  
As the Rogues turned to leave, Adora stopped Catra and Makuta.  
“Be safe you two.” She said, hugging the cat twins. Then, stroking the scar on Makuta’s eye: “Wouldn’t want a rerun of this.”  
“Relax, Adora.” Catra reassured, “You know us; we’ll be fine.”  
“She’s right.” Makuta agreed, “Besides, I’d willingly go through that again if it means protecting you two. Don’t think I haven’t gone back on my promise.”  
Adora warmly smiled in response.  
“And you and I still have to settle things here” Netossa chimed in, “Don’t think you’re off the hook.”  
Makuta gave a thumbs up: “Got it.”  
The three friends shared a small laugh, then Catra and Makuta pulled away and took off down the hall after their team.  
“See ya, Adora!” Catra called out.  
…  
About a half hour later, Entrapta was finishing the preparations for liftoff while Scorpia, who had also volunteered to go, helped pack up Entrapta’s lab equipment with help from Skorp and Waspix. Makuta and Catra finally arrived and now boarded the ship to regroup with the team.  
“I see your friend, Hordak, isn’t joining us.” Makuta observed.  
“Yeah,” Entrapta replied, “He wanted to stay behind to keep an eye on the lab for me.”  
Makuta breathed a quiet sigh of relief while Catra rolled her eyes; Makuta never fully trusted Hordak, even when he ended up joining them against Horde Prime in the end. After a few more minutes, everything was loaded and ready.  
“All right, everyone strap yourselves in!” Entrapta announced. The others knew well enough to do so; Entrapta wasn’t exactly the best pilot when it came to takeoffs. Once everyone had strapped themselves into a seat, Entrapta hit a few buttons and switches, and the ship roared to life, slowly pulling out of the hangar. Unfortunately, it was a very bumpy ride outside of the hangar, and Scorpia was already starting to turn a bit green, but it eventually calmed down as Entrapta piloted the ship out the Etherian atmosphere and into the void of space.  
Skorp looked over at Scorpia: “You okay?”  
“Yeah, I’m good…” Scorpia woozily replied, “Do you have a paper bag or something on you, by any chance? Just in case.”  
“There should be one in the seat pocket behind you.” Makuta explained, and Scorpia gratefully pulled it out, holding it close to her face.  
“So how far away is the planet?” Waspix asked.  
“Well, if my calculations are correct, and they usually are” Entrapta explained, “It’s rather far if we used standard engines. HOWEVER, I have been building a warp engine that I put right into this baby that should get us there in only a few minutes.”  
“Well then, let’s hit it.” Makuta told the princess, who promptly saluted and hit a few more buttons on the console.  
“Here we go.” She finally announces, “Beginning warp in three…two…one!”  
Entrapta then pushed a lever forward, and everyone lurched back in their seats as the ship shot forward at warp speed. Only calming down as their bodies adjusted after a few minutes.  
“Now THAT’S what I call a head rush” Pyroc said, his head dizzily swaying around. Then everyone heard a gagging sound and looked to see Scorpia with her face in the bag.  
Makuta rolled his eyes in amusement; this mission had barely begun and already it was getting interesting for some of his teammates.  
“I can’t WAIT to explore the surface of this new world” Entrapta exclaimed, “IT must be teeming with the most incredible life forms EVER!”  
“Or something that’ll want to tear your face off” Skorp interceded, “We still need to be careful.”  
“She can do her exploring as long as someone goes with her” Makuta reassured, “It’ll be best if we work in groups.”  
“Agreed” Pyroc replied, “Strength in numbers is always a good tactic.”  
“Speaking of numbers” Entrapta spoke up, glancing at one of the consoles, “We’re almost there. Preparing to jump out of warp.”  
A few moments later, Entrapta pulled back soon the lever, and the ship lurched to almost a standstill; it would have sent everyone flying forward if they hadn’t been strapped in. Looking out, they could see a large, blue and green planet in front of them.  
Entrapta’s eyes were wide with amazement: “Amazing…”  
“There it is.” Makuta said, “Alright everyone, remember: this is a new planet, so we have no idea what we’re going to face down there. As long as we stick together, we should be fine. Everyone ready?”  
Scorpia and Pyroc nodded their assent.  
“Ready!” Skorp and Waspix declared in unison.  
Catra smirked at her brother: “You’re really catching on to this whole leader thing, huh?”  
Makuta smirked back: “I’m a fast learner.” Then, turning to Entrapta: “Alright Entrapta, take us down.”  
With that, Entrapta guided the ship through the planet’s atmosphere, its crew unaware yet prepared for whatever dangers they would face…


End file.
